My Perfect Match
by HappyMess
Summary: Bella Swan never considered online dating. After all, she was only twenty-one. But after too many glasses of wine, her best friend convinces her otherwise. AH. Olderward.
1. Chapter 1

A little birthday present for Tropical Sorbet. It was going to be a o/s, but now I'm thinking 2, _maybe_ three chapters. Thanks to Lidia and Susana for their help! Unbeta'd. Hope you like it.

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><p>I didn't do this.<p>

I never, ever did this.

When Alice first suggested it. I laughed.

Looking for a boyfriend on the Internet, really? I wasn't even twenty-two yet.

I wasn't desperate for a boyfriend. I could get dates...if I wanted to.

But then Alice made me a profile on a dating website, and after a few too many glasses of wine, we spent an evening filling it out and then searching through my matches.

Most of my matches seemed like okay guys, but none of them really caught my eye.

"Oooh, Bella. That guy looks cute!" Alice pointed to a blond haired guy. I couldn't really see what he looked like, so I clicked on his profile to see a bigger pic of him.

"Alice, what the fuck. He has a ponytail. It looks longer than mine." I browsed through his interests. "Motorcycles and monster truck rallies? How do they figure this guy is a...fifty-seven percent match for me?"

"Maybe he has a sensitive side?" she giggled.

I glared at her. "Right. This is hopeless. A bad idea. Do you want more wine?"

She nodded and I stood up, going to the kitchen for a second bottle of wine.

"Bella!" Alice called from the living room. "How do you feel about World of Warcraft conventions?"

"I don't!" I yelled back.

"Okay, never mind."

When I came back to the living room, Alice was bouncing in her seat. "I found him!"

"Found who?" I sighed, pouring her a glass.

"Duh, your future husband," she took a gulp of her wine. "Come on and meet him."

I rolled my eyes and sat down beside her, filling up my own glass.

"His username is Cullen72. You guys have similar tastes in music. He likes outdoorsy stuff and books. Likes animals. On top of that, you're a ninety-four percent match!"

"I don't know, his profile is kind of...bare. You can't even see what he looks like." I squinted, trying to see his face in his profile picture. It was a full body shot and he was wearing a suit. He was definitely fit.

"Let's see..." Alice scrolled down to see what he filled in about his looks. "He's tall. 6'2. Green eyes, brown hair. One hundred and seventy pounds. He sounds hot, Bella. Green eyes."

I was a sucker for green eyes.

"Yeah, but what's he looking for in a girl?" I asked.

"Hmm. He's pretty vague. He didn't put anything in for physical looks. Just that you guys should share interests."

I read through his profile once more and the further I got through it, the more I was actually considering contacting him.

"Come on, Bella. Message him! I have a good feeling about this guy."

"I don't know," I repeated.

"Stop being such a fuddy-duddy. Just do it."

After taking another drink of wine, I agreed.

"Great!" Alice said, clicking on the message option. It's immediately goes to a page with subscription options. "Crap. You have to pay to message."

"Well, how much is it?" I asked.

"Uhh...it's sixty for a month subscription."

"Alice!" I groaned. "Just forget it."

"Nooo, come on, Bella. I'll pay for half. You can't miss out on meeting your future husband! The sixty dollars is so worth it."

Maybe it was the wine or maybe it was the fact I was starting to feel really intrigued about this guy. "Okay," I sighed. "Let me go get my credit card."

Alice squealed. "You won't regret this!"

Sixty dollars later, I was staring at an empty typing field.

"What do I say?"

"Umm, I don't know," Alice shrugged.

I glared at her. "Seriously? All this talk about future husbands and how you have a good feeling and you don't know what I should say?"

"Well, why don't you just say hi? Tell him that you saw his profile and you thought he was interesting. Then tell him a bit about yourself."

That sounded like a good idea, so I quickly wrote out a message for him. Before I could chicken out, I hit send.

"Now what?" I asked.

"I dunno," she shrugged. "More wine?"

I rolled my eyes at her and handed her the bottle. "Here, wino."

Alice stuck her tongue out at me and went back to looking at my matches.

"Bella! You have a new message!" Alice exclaimed, clicking on the notification box.

It was from Cullen72.

"What does it say?" I asked.

"Let's see..." she clicked it open and began to read.

**"Hello, BSwan91.**

**I must say that I was intrigued as well upon looking at your profile. You're very beautiful. I was pleased to see that we also share many of the same interests. About you being concerned about the physical qualities I'm looking for in a woman, I wouldn't worry. I've learned long ago that what's inside counts more. Besides, we aren't a ninety-four percent match for nothing. ;)**

**-Edward"**

"Wow, Bella. This guys is good." I nodded in agreement. "Are you gonna reply back?"

"Yeah. I mean, what's the harm?"

**"Hi, Cullen72. Or can I call you Edward?**

**I was surprised to see you reply back so fast. It's kind of late here. Are you a night owl like me? I've never done this whole internet dating site thing before. Even tonight this was kind of a whim. Most of my matches didn't really seem like matches. For some reason, I seem to attract a lot of bikers, not sure why that is. I'm glad to hear that looks aren't all that matter to you. I have to say that while I don't think I'm ugly, I definitely rate myself as average. You said in your profile you enjoy reading, but didn't list what you like to read. I'd be interested in finding out.**

**-Bella"**

"Aww, that's soo sweet, Bella!" Alice cooed. "BRB, I gotta go to the bathroom."

I laughed at Alice's text lingo and turned my attention back to my computer. I tried to not compulsively refresh the page, waiting to see if he would message me back. It was late, after midnight, he probably messaged me and then went to bed.

Five minutes later, Alice hadn't come back from the bathroom and I went to check on her, thinking she may have gotten sick.

She wasn't in the bathroom, so I went to look in my bedroom. Alice had curled up on my bed and was fast asleep, mouth wide open.

I grabbed a blanket from the foot of my bed and threw it over her, then went back to my computer.

I refreshed the browser and a new message notification pops up.

Almost giddily, I opened the new message and read it.

The next few hours passed the same.

I felt wide awake and apparently Edward felt the same.

We sent messages back and forth until it was starting to grow light outside. My eyes were closing against my will and my bed was calling my name as I waited for his response.

As if Edward could read my mind, his next message was shorter than the previous.

**"Bella, It's late (or should I say early?) and I really should be getting to bed. Thanks for the conversation and company. What do you think about taking the conversation from computer to face to face? We could go for coffee or a drink, if you'd like.**

**Looking forward to hearing from you.**

**Sweet dreams, Edward."**

I read and reread his message.

He wanted to meet me. In person.

When I had started messaging him, it was all in fun. The thought of actually meeting him in person hadn't even crossed my mind.

Did I want to meet him? Yes, I did.

I was just nervous. You heard all sorts of things about meeting people online and how unsafe it can be.

I mean, I had seen that Craigslist Killer movie on Lifetime, after all.

I decided not to answer his message and instead turned off my computer.

I'd sleep on it.

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><p>Leave a review and let me know what you think! Chapter two will come in the next few days.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning I woke up with the worst wine hangover. I rolled over and saw that Alice had already gone. In her place was a note.

_Sooo sorry for falling asleep! Text me when you wake up and we'll get lunch. I want to hear all about your future hubs!_

I tossed the note back on the bed and sat up, groaning as I stretched. I needed a toothbrush and a shower.

As I stood up, my head started to pound in time with my heartbeat.

Maybe I needed an Aspirin as well.

An hour and a half later I was feeling a lot better. I met Alice at our favorite Italian deli.

"So, tell me all about him," Alice said as we sat down with our food.

"Well, he seems nice," I said.

"Oh my god. Bella, come on! Give me the deets," Alice begged.

"He seems nice, like I said. We clicked. I don't know. He just seems too good to be true, you know?" I sighed.

"What, like he's really some old perverted man pretending to be some young hottie?" She let's out an unlady-like snort. "Not everyone on the internet is a creeper."

"I know that. It just...I'm probably being dumb. But what if he already has a girlfriend? Or worse, a wife?"

Alice gave me a look that said, 'you've got to be kidding me, right?' "You hear horror stories about it all the time. Online dating disasters. I'm just being cautious."

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I understand, I guess I would be too, if I were in the same situation."'

I decided to tell her about the last message I received from him, knowing that she would really blow a gasket then.

"He wants to meet."

"And you're just now telling me this! Bella, you _have_ to meet him. Does he live in Seattle?"

I nodded. "Yep. He lives and works here."

"Did you Google him yet?"

"What? No. I didn't Google him. That would be weird."

"Ugh. Bella. This is the age of Google." Alice pulled her phone out of her bag and started typing.

"Alice, what? No, don't Google." I grab for her phone but she holds it out of my reach.

"Fine," I huffed, leaning back in my chair and folding my arms.

"Well, this is boring," she said, scrolling through her phone. "His facebook is private. There isn't much about him except for a few random articles with his name attached."

"Yeah, that's what he does. He's a freelance writer."

"Wow, he likes to write too? He's a man after your own heart. What did you say when he asked you to meet with him?"

"Um, nothing?" I look down at my sandwich.

"Nothing?"

"I didn't message him back. I freaked out and went to bed."

Alice was staring at me with her mouth wide open.

"You didn't!" When I didn't say anything else, she let out a groan. "What if you missed your chance? No. We won't think like that. Come on, get up!"

She started to stand up, grabbing her bag.

"Wait, where are we going?" I asked, confused.

"We're going to your place so you can reply to him," she said like it was obvious.

"No. I need to do this. I don't even know how I feel about him."

Alice's expression softened. "Bella, not all guys are jerks. You can't let what happened in high school affect you years later. Jacob was a jerk."

"I know." I hated that Alice worried about me sometimes. "How about when I get home, I'll message him back."

"Promise?" Alice smiled.

"Promise."

When I got home a little while later, I turned on my laptop and went to Match Finder to see I had new messages.

My heart rate sped up a little as I clicked on the new messages icon.

Two of them were from different guys, one of them was even from the blond haired guy from the previous night.

I read through both their messages, but I wasn't interested. I didn't know the proper online dating etiquette on replying to guys you weren't interested in, so I held off on deleting them.

The third message was from Edward and was sent a couple hours ago.

**Bella,**

**I hope I didn't scare you off last night. Maybe if you're not ready to meet face to face, we could try something else. Do you have Skype? If not, we could also exchange phone numbers.**

**Looking forward to hearing from you, Edward**

At the end of the message, he included his phone number.

I debated whether or not to reply to his message or just call him, finally deciding on just sucking it up and calling him.

Alice would be so proud.

I nervously dialed his number and waited as the phone rang.

"Hello?" A strong masculine voice answered the phone, it momentarily surprised me.

"Hi. Is this Edward?" I asked, sounding uncertain. Maybe this hadn't been such a great idea. I considered chickening out and hanging up, but I didn't block my number. He could call right back.

"Speaking," he said, sounding out of breath.

"Hi. This is Bella...BSwan91. I just saw your message."

"Bella," I can hear a smile in his voice. "Wow. I thought for sure I scared you off."

"No, no you didn't." Not much. "Are you busy? I can call you back."

"Not at all. I was just finishing up my run. How are you today?"

"I'm good. Great. How are you?" I asked, sitting down on my couch and kicking my feet up.

"Good," he replied.

"That's good." There's a lull in the conversation, which makes me disappointed.

"This is ridiculous. We had so much to talk about last night," Edward laughs.

"I know! I think I'm just nervous," I cringed at admitting that.

"Would it help to admit that I am a little nervous as well?" he asked. "I've never done anything like this before. It was actually my brother that made my account. I would have to say that I'm now glad he did."

"Oh," I said. Was he glad because of me? I bit my lip, unsure of how to respond.

"Sorry. I'm making you uncomfortable," he apologized.

"No, you're not. I'm just...not used to compliments, I guess. I didn't make my account either. My best friend slash cousin, Alice, convinced me to last night."

"Well, I'd say we both have meddling people in our lives, then."

"Ha, meddling is putting it nicely." _More like pushy_, I thought.

We made small talk for a little while before Edward said he had to go.

"I really should be getting started on this article I have to write," he sighed. He didn't sound like he wanted to hang up yet. I didn't either.

"Okay. I should probably clean up around here as well." I looked around my spotless apartment, wondering what I could do to fill my day.

"Would it be okay if I call you later?" he asked.

"Yeah," I smiled hugely to myself. "That would be okay."

"Great, well. I hope you have a good day, Bella."

"You too, Edward."

I called Alice a little while later, knowing that she was probably waiting for me to tell her about Edward.

"Finally! I was waiting for you to call," she said as soon as she answered.

"Hello to you, too," I said dryly.

"Well?" she asked, sounding impatient.

"Well, what?" I teased.

"Ugh. Come on. Did you message him back? What did he say? What did you say?"

I briefly told her what happened, up until my decision to call.

"So...instead of messaging him back, I called."

Silence.

"Alice?"

"Sorry, Bella. I thought you said that you called him. But I must have heard wrong. Could you repeat that?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Instead of messaging him back, I called him."

"Seriously? You're not lying, right?"

"No," I laughed. "Not lying."

"Wow, who are you and what have you done with Bella?"

"Alice!" I laugh harder.

"Sorry, sorry. So, what happened?"

"We just talked for almost and hour until he had to get some work done," I said before adding, "But he did ask if he could call me again later."

"And you said yes, right?"

"Yes, mother."

"Squee!" Alice squeals. "Ah, to be young and in love!"

"Alice, you're two years older than me so you're still young. Besides that you have Jasper."

"Sigh. I know. But Jaspers not going to get back in town for a week. I miss him."

Alice had met Jasper their freshman year of college, while I was just a sophomore in high school. They had been together ever since.

Jasper worked at some tech company and was currently away on business.

And when Jasper was away, Alice became a million times more...Alice.

"I know. But you guys still talk."

"Ugh. I know but Bella I haven't had sex in—"

"Woah! I do not need to know about your sex life. You're family and Jasper is like a brother to me, please. Spare me."

"Okay, sorry. I'm just saying that maybe a good, hard fu—"

"Alice!" I yelled.

"Oops. But in all seriousness, Bella. You need to get out and live a little. I mean, people think that I'm the younger one out of the two of us."

"I'm trying," I told her, feeling that pang of guilt again for making her worry. "I just need to work on putting myself out there more."

"Exactly!" Alice perked up instantly. "Oh, I'm sorry. Jaspers calling me now on Skype. I gotta go. _Loveyoucallmebye!_"

Alice hung up so fast I ended up saying goodbye to a dead line.

I was bored for the rest of the day. I worked at the campus bookstore, but I didn't have work or class to go to.

I had also finished all my homework up ahead of time.

Edward called me again at nine.

"Sorry, I'm calling too late, am I?"

"Nope, not at all," I muffled a yawn. I was laying in bed with a book, having given up hope that he would call me back. "I was just reading."

"Oh? What were you reading?"

I looked down at my YA novel about vampires. With all the 'serious' reading I had to do for college, books like this were my guilty pleasure.

"Just a magazine," I lied. Trying to change the subject, I asked him about his day.

"It was okay. Got the article done, now I'm just waiting for approval on it."

"That's awesome."

"Yeah. What about you, what did you do today?"

"Well, the first time I called, I had just gotten back from meeting with cousin, then I just kind of hung around my place all day."

"It's good to have relaxing days," Edward said. "I could do with a few of those. I spent the afternoon trying to convince my brother that I was too busy to go out for drinks."

Edward then proceeded to tell me about his family. He had a young brother, Emmett, who was married to Rosalie. Edward and Rosalie didn't always get along, but they were still very close.

His parents, Carlisle and Esme lived in Seattle.

In turn, I told him a bit about my family.

"Is it seriously 11 already?" He yawned. He had been telling me about his brothers antics for a while.

"Yeah. Wow. Time flies," I commented.

"Bella, I know that you have your reservations, but I'd really like to meet with you. In person. It doesn't have to be anything serious or a date, we could just meet up for coffee and talk. Just like we're doing now, except face to face."

I really wanted to. Really, really wanted to.

"Ookay," I said after hesitating. "We can do coffee."

"Great!" Edward said, sounded genuinely happy. "When is good for you?"

After comparing schedules, we settled for Wednesday at 8. I didn't have class until the evenings on that day, so it was perfect.

When we hung up, I was happy and sure I had made the right choice.

That was chapter two. Now, I kind of didn't expect the amount of positive feedback I would get for chapter one at all. I kind of like these characters a lot.

Soo...my question for you is would you like to see this as a multi-chap?

I can't promise super frequent updates. My main priority is finishing Whatever Comes Next which I believe is 3 more chapters.

Let me know what you think in a review and I'll see you guys next time!


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own Twilight. This started out as a o/s for Tropical Sorbet. Now...I don't know what it is. But the response to it has been pretty amazing.

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><p>I was pretty sure that Alice was more excited about my coffee date with Edward than I was.<p>

Okay, maybe not more excited, but definitely more invested in it than a normal person would have been.

I tried to insist that it was just a casual coffee meeting in the morning. I'd dress nicer than I would if I was just going to class, but I wasn't going to wear the outfit she had mentally picked out for me, which included a dress, heels and jewelery.

"But Bella," she whined. "First impression is everything!"

"Well, technically he's already seen me before, just not in person. You act like I'm going in sweats. Just chill, okay?"

That was Monday, when I told her.

On Tuesday, she came to pick me up from work in the late afternoon.

"Alice, what's that?" I asked, gesturing to the garment and shopping bag she had in the backseat of her car.

"Noothing," she singsonged.

I arched an eyebrow. I didn't believe her for a second.

"Okay. Now, don't kill me. But I kind of went and got you that outfit I envisioned."

"You didn't," I turned to glare at her. In return, she just shrugged.

I turned around and unzipped the the garment bag down a bit. Inside was a deep blue dress with a little white and black pattern on it.

"Thanks, Alice. It's pretty, really," I told her, knowing it was pointless to argue.

"Yay! I'm glad you like it. Look in the box!" She gestured toward the bag.

I pulled the shopping bag onto my lap and looked inside, seeing a shoebox.

Opening the lid revealed a pair of patent nude flats.

"I thought they'd go perfect with the dress. And before you freak about how much I spent, I went to Forever21."

"Love it," I said, putting the bag in the back seat and then leaning forward to hug her. "But you do remember it's just morning coffee."

"Well, for your second date, then."

I laughed and shook my head. "Okay, Alice. My second date."

0-0

I had spoken to Edward a couple times since the first time I'd called, so when he called me Tuesday night, it wasn't unexpected.

"Hey!" I greeted him.

"Bella. I am so, so sorry."

I didn't like the sound of that. I could already feel the disappointment creeping in.

"What's wrong?"

"I completely forgot that I had to take my niece to preschool in the morning. My brother has work and my sister-in-law is a stay at home mom, but she has a doctors appointment she needs to go to."

"Oh. Okay, I understand, Edward. I hope everything is okay with her," I told him. I hoped he couldn't hear how let down I felt.

"Yeah. It's just a check up. I feel like shit though because I practically begged you to meet me and now I can't make it," he said.

"It's fine. There's always another day," I hinted at, hoping he would take the initiative to reschedule.

"Of course. Actually, I was wondering if you were free tomorrow night? I know we agreed on coffee because there's less pressure, but I promise to you that this will be a zero pressure dinner. We can even go to Taco Bell, if it makes you feel better."

I giggled. "Dinner sounds great. But as much as I enjoy Taco Bell, maybe we can go someplace a little...nicer."

"Phew," Edward said, sounding jokingly relieved. "I was ready to beg you again."

"Begging? What would this entail?"

"Well," he pretended to think hard about it. "I'd probably buy you flowers and sing you your favorite song."

"Really, now? Do you sing?"

"Uhh. Sometimes. When I'm alone and no one can hear. Then yeah, I can really belt it out," he laughed.

"Oh. Of course. Me too," I smiled.

"Okay. I should let you get going. So tomorrow night, how does seven sound?"

"That sounds perfect. I'll see you then."

"Bye, Bella. See you tomorrow night."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone.

Suddenly, Alice's gifts seemed very appropriate.

0-0

"Wait, so you're not going to meet him now?" Alice asked when I called her later that evening to tell her that Edward had canceled.

I just wanted to mess with her a bit.

"Are you serious?" she asked, sounding more upset about it than I had.

"No. Well, yeah. He has to take his niece to preschool but instead of coffee we're doing dinner. So I'm going to wear the outfit you bought me."

"Dammit. I have to have dinner with my mom tomorrow night. I'd totally come over and help you get ready," she pouted.

"That's fine. Say hi to Aunt Mary for me, okay?"

"Will do. Text me before the date, okay?"

I hung up, promising her that I would text her before the dinner non-date.

The next day in class I was a mess. I couldn't focus on anything my professors were saying. It had been nearly impossible to focus on homework the night before.

If I thought I had been nervous though, it was nothing compared to how I felt two hours before I was supposed to meet him at the restaurant.

I showered and then put on a robe while I did my makeup and hair. It wasn't anything fancy, but nicer than I did on a normal day.

I considered myself lucky that I managed to even put the makeup on without looking like a clown, I felt so shaky.

The restaurant was one I had never been to before, but I told Edward to pick where we were going. He assured me it was good and as an added bonus, it was near where I lived.

Finally, it was twenty minutes before I had to be there, so I put on the dress and shoes, pairing it with a white cardigan I already had.

Taking one last glance in the mirror to make sure I looked okay, I grabbed my bag and went outside to my car.

I texted Edward to let him know I was at the bar and ordered myself a glass of wine to help ease my nerves.

I tried to recite the pep talk Alice had given me earlier, but all I could focus on was my nerves.

I nearly jumped out of my seat when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Bella?" It was him.

I took a deep breath and plastered a smile on my face, saying one final prayer that he wasn't some dirty old man.

Oh, boy. He was far from being a dirty old man.

He looked almost exactly the same as his profile picture, except his hair was more tame and he was clean shaven.

"Edward, hi," I greeted him. I slid off the bar stool and he stepped forward, hugging me.

"I see you've already gotten the night started," he smiled, nodding to my wine glass.

Blushing, I looked down. I didn't even think that he might not be a drinker.

"I think I'll order myself one when he go sit down. Shall we?"

We went up to the hostess stand where he gave her his last name, after we were seated, he ordered himself a glass of wine while I opted to stick with water.

"So...what's good here?" I asked, picking up the menu.

"I like everything I've had here, actually. I usually get a burger if I come here."

"Hmm." I bit my lip. A burger sounded good, but just imagining eating one and spilling it all over my white cardigan made me cringe.

There wasn't really a dignified way to eat a burger.

After we ordered, steak for him and salmon for me, he asked me to tell him about myself.

"There's not much, really. I go to University of Washington. I'm finishing up my junior year there."

"Really?" he asked. "What are you studying?"

"English," I replied, taking a sip of my wine.

"Ah, why am I not surprised?" he laughed. "Where did you grow up?"

"Forks. It's a few hours out of Seattle. Well, I lived there until I was about one and then moved around a lot with my mom. I moved back to Forks when she remarried."

"That's cool. I grew up in Chicago and then moved out here after college. I studied journalism."

Just then, the waitress came with our food and disrupted our conversation.

While we ate, the conversation flowed easily. Through our texts and calls, we had quite a bit about each others like and dislikes, so it was easy to find a topic we both enjoyed speaking about.

After we finished eating, Edward asked if I wanted to stop by one of his favorite places to get a drink. Not ready to call it a night, I readily agreed.

0-0

Edward laughed at my shocked face when we pulled into the parking lot of Dairy Queen.

"What?" he laughed, feigning confusion.

"When you said drink I just pictured something...different."

"Hey, I love their shakes. If you don't want one though...your loss!"

I got out of the car as Edward walked around to my side. I shivered at his hand on my lower back, guiding me as we walked.

"Are you cold?" he asked, leaning down to talk softly into my ear.

The smug tone in his voice told me that he knew I wasn't cold. It was a warm May evening.

"N-no," I shook my head, momentarily stunned. "I'm good."

"Good. Did I mention how beautiful you look tonight? Because you do. I love that color against your skin."

"Thank you." I took a steadying breath. He made my head spin and my heart pound.

The bright florescent lights of the restaurant helped to snap me out of my daze though, and after we ordered and received our two chocolate shakes, we sat down at a table in the corner.

"So, you're not dating anyone else? There's no competition lurking in the shadows or anything?" he asked. He laughed, like it was a joke but I could see he was seriously asking me.

"No. Not at all. I guess I've just been focusing on school and not looking for anyone. What about you? You seem...great."

Edward laughed again.

When he laughed, his eyes lit up and the corners crinkled.

"Why, Ms. Swan. Are you asking me why no one else has snatched me up yet?"

I blushed. "Pretty much, yeah."

"Honestly?" I nodded, so he continued. "I was in a relationship for quite some time. Twelve years. Eventually, it got to the point where we were more roommates than anything else. We broke up about five years ago. Tanya is still a dear friend of mine. She's actually getting married next spring."

"Wow. Twelve years? You guys were like a couple in elementary school?" I laughed. "That's cute."

"What? No. We didn't meet until my senior year of college."

I laughed again, thinking Edward was joking. The look on his face tells me that he's not.

"Oh my god." I tried to absorb what he just told me. Then my mind was spinning, trying to do the mental math and hoped to make sense of what he was telling me.

"That means...no. That would mean you're...thirty-nine?"

Edward cringed. "Forty next month."

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><p>Some of you guys caught on to their age. You guys are smart cookies.<p>

I made a little blog post with a pic of Bella's outfit.

If any of you are artistically inclined, it would be kinda cool to have a banner for MPM. Just saying...

New chapter will be up next week? I hope.

In the meantime, review and come find me on twitter at HappyMess89 or Facebook. Link for that along with my blog is on my profile.

See you guys next time!


	4. Chapter 4

Last time Bella found out that Edward was almost forty. Let's see how everything turns out.

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><p><em>Forty next month.<em>

_Forty_

_Forty_

Edward was _forty. _

It's not that I thought forty was old, per se.

But it was very unexpected to find out.

I was trying to wrap my head around what was happening when Edward's voice broke through my thoughts.

"Bella, I am so sorry. I had no idea you didn't know my age. I thought that you would have caught on to my username. Cullen72. I was born in seventy-two. Much like I assumed you were born in ninety-one."

"I-I was. I was born in ninety-one." I suddenly felt so very, very stupid about not paying more attention to his username.

"I hope this didn't ruin your evening," Edward said.

"No, you didn't. I'm just surprised, I guess."

His revelation did put a damper on the evening though. I found myself quiet as we finished up our desserts.

Edward, sensing my unease asked me if I wanted to go home.

I nodded. I wanted to go home. I needed to think.

0-0

The ride home was quiet, but short.

Edward insisted on walking me to my door.

With his hand on my lower back, I felt that warm feeling again that was hard to ignore.

"I had a really good time tonight, Bella," he told me when we got to my door.

"I did too," I replied, surprising myself with how sincerely I meant it.

"Now, while I have no issues with your age, I have a very strong feeling that maybe my age might be too much for you," he sighed. "So if I could just try one thing..."

I knew what was coming.

I surprised myself with how much I wanted it.

Edwards tongue peeked out to wet his lips and he leaned in, giving me a gentle peck on the lips, followed by another, more demanding, but still soft kiss.

I was dizzy and breathless when we parted and so, so confused.

"Goodnight, Bella," he murmured.

"Goodnight," I echoed, still in a daze.

Once I was inside, I immediately went through the process of changing into my pajamas and cleaning all my make up off.

I knew Alice was expecting me to call her post date, but I needed time. I sent her a text letting her know I was home okay and I would tell her all about it the next morning.

Then I turned my phone off.

In the comfort of my bed, I allowed myself to think over the past few hours.

My date had been good.

Edward was just...great.

When I thought about it, I was confused as to why I wasn't more turned off by his age.

In reality, he had already lived a lot of his life.

He was mature; sure of himself. He seemed to enjoy life and knew what he wanted.

That brought me to my other question. Why the hell did he want _me_?

I was just twenty-one. Still in school. My step-dad paid for my apartment.

Other than that, he was in a relationship for twelve years.

He was obviously experienced with the opposite sex whereas the only experience I had with guys came from Jacob.

And that was a disaster.

I rolled over onto my stomach and groaned into the pillow. My introspection left me with more questions than answers.

I must have eventually been able to fall asleep, because I woke up with a start the next morning.

Someone was pounding on the door.

I got up, grabbing a sweatshirt and pulling it over my head as I looked out the peephole.

Sighing, I opened the door.

"Hi, Alice."

"Where the hell have you been?" she questioned, walking past me and into my living room.

"Umm...here?"

"You didn't call me last night, instead sending me that text and then when I tried calling you right back, your phone was off." Alice handed me the box of donuts and tray of coffee she was carrying so she could take off her coat. "That guy could have been psycho and axe murdered you!"

I rolled my eyes. "Over dramatic, much?"

"Whatever. So, tell me all about it," she said, sitting down on the couch.

I trailed behind her and sat down next to her, putting everything down on the coffee table.

"We went out to a nice restaurant. Good food and wine. After we ate he asked me if I wanted to go some place else for a drink."

"Did you say yes? You totally did, right?" Alice interrupted.

"If you would just let me finish...yes. We did. I thought he was going to take me to a bar, but we ended up at Dairy Queen drinking chocolate shakes.

"Aww," she sighed. "That is so sweet. But what about him? Is he as hot in person as he was in the pic?"

I nodded. "Hotter."

"Wow, Bella." Alice leaned back against the couch. "He sounds great. Are you going out again? You have to."

"Well, I don't know," I looked down at my lap, fidgeting.

"What? Did he ask if you wanted to?"

"Well, it was implied," I told her, remembering the previous night.

"So what's the problem? He doesn't have baggage, right? Crazy exes or kids?"

"No," I shook my head. "Nothing like that." I think. We never touched the subject of children. Oh, god. He was with his ex for twelve years. Did they have a child together? It didn't seem too far of a stretch to think that they might have a kid. A kid that could possibly be twelve; over half my age.

"Bella, what's wrong? You look so freaked out," Alice said, snapping me out of my internal freak out.

"Edward's older than me."

"Okay, well how much older are we talking? A year or two? Lot's of girls date guys older than them," she said.

"I know. But he's _older_. More than just a year or two," I sighed. Alice still looked clueless. "Like, nineteen years."

"What?" Alice yelled, shocked.

"Yup. Nineteen years older," I confirmed.

Alice's face went from shock to concern. She leaned over and grabbed one of my hands. "Oh, Bella. I'm so sorry. I pushed you to put yourself out there and this is what happens. Don't worry though, we can find you someone else. I have faith."

"Woah, what? I didn't say I wanted to find someone else. Sure, his age was off putting, but after sleeping on it, I don't think it bothers me so much."

Alice smiled disbelievingly "Bella. You can't be serious. He's forty. Uncle Charlie is forty-two. Your mom is just—"

"She's thirty-nine. I know," I snapped, pulling my hand out from under hers.

"There's plenty of guys that are your age that would be better for you," she laughed.

"Edward is a good guy, Alice. I can tell. I feel a connection to him. I can't explain it. But I know he feels it too. I like him."

Alice's expression became serious. "You're seriously entertaining the idea of dating a guy that is as old as your mother? Are there some like...misguided daddy issues I don't know about?"

She tried laughing to lighten the mood, but it didn't work.

"No, Alice. I don't have daddy issues. You pushed me to join that website and then pushed me to contact Edward. You approved of him up until I told you his age. That shouldn't be a deciding factor in whether or not I should be with him." I felt myself growing more and more defensive as the minutes ticked on.

"What would Uncle Charlie say if he knew?" she questioned, "or Aunt Renee? They'd be livid."

"It doesn't matter what they say. And so help me Alice, you better not tell either of them. If there comes a time that they even have to know, it will be me that tells them, got it?"

Alice frowned, but nodded. "I don't like this one bit. What would a forty year old want with a twenty-one year old? Just to have a hot young girl on his arm?"

I let out a frustrated growl and stood up. "I think you should leave. I don't really feel like company."

"Bella—"

"Alice, please? I just want to be alone."

"Fine," she huffed, standing up. I walked her to the door. "How great can this guy be though if he's already causing us to argue?"

Before I could even think of a response, she was out the door.

I tried to not let Alice's words get to me, but we had never fought like that. I knew that she was looking out for me, but also Alice always thought she knew best. I loved her to death, but Alice trying to control what I did was nothing new.

We had just never fought about it like that before.

I would normally have succumbed to her 'advice' or just ignored her until she got over it. This time though, it felt different.

I wanted to take a chance with Edward. If it didn't work out, then at least I tried. I wouldn't live with the regret of never calling him.

Needing the caffeine and not wanting to waste the coffee Alice had brought, I picked up a cup and took a sip from it. I went to retrieve my phone and turned it on, finding five missed calls and texts from Alice. After deleting them all, I took a deep, calming breath and called Edward.

"Hello."

"Edward. Hi. It's me, uh...Bella."

"Bella, hi. Can you just hang on one second, please?" he asked, sounding distracted.

"Sure." I could hear muffled voices and the sound of him walking.

"Sorry about that, I'm at my parents right now. How are you?"

"I'm okay," I told him, suddenly feeling shy.

"You don't sound okay. Did something happen? This isn't about last night, is it? I understand, really. I'm surprised you're even calling." Edward sounded so unsure of himself, it was a completely different tone of voice than the one I had heard him use the previous night.

"It's nothing, really. I just...I got in a fight with my cousin. I guess I'm just upset over it."

Edward gets the implication of the fight and me calling him. "Over me."

"Alice is just being Alice. It'll blow over." Even as I spoke the words, I wasn't so sure. Of course, we'd eventually be okay. But I didn't know how soon that would be. I had never heard her be so judgmental and narrow-minded before.

"Are you busy now?" he asked. "I was just about ready to leave their house. We were having breakfast. We could...I don't know, do something, if you'd like. Just two people hanging out, you know. Not a date. No pressure."

I smiled in spite of everything. "Okay. But on one condition."

Edward laughed. "Name it."

"As long as it's a date."

* * *

><p>Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know if you did in a review!<p>

See you next time.


	5. Chapter 5

Edward was going to pick me up in an hour and a half, leaving me plenty of time to shower and get ready.

He told me to dress casual, but I wasn't sure just how casual he meant, but I went with a grey tank top, shorts and my converse.

It seemed casual enough for a date.

At almost exactly an hour and a half later, my doorbell rang.

"Hey," I greeted Edward, opening the door. Luckily, he was dressed just as casual as I was in jeans and a t-shirt.

"Hi, Bella. You look lovely." He smiled and handed me a multi-colored bouquet of Tulips.

"Wow, these are gorgeous. Let me go put them in water, come in," I said, ushering him in.

I left him in the living room while I went to go find a vase.

When I came back in, he was looking at the pictures I had framed on a table.

"Those are my parents," I said, talking about the photo he was looking at.

"Sorry," he smiled sheepishly. "I was just curious."

I smiled, letting him know it was okay.

"That's Alice," I pointed to another one of the pictures. "My cousin. That's from last Christmas."

Thinking about Alice made me upset, so I instantly banished the thought from my head.

Later.

"Okay, I'm ready to go."

0-0

I started to feel out of my league when Edward led me to his car. A black Range Rover.

On a freelance writer's salary, I had no idea how he could afford such an expensive car.

"So, where are you taking me?" I asked, getting in the car and buckling the seat belt, after Edward had opened my door for me, of course.

"The park."

I stayed quiet, thinking of what we would be doing there.

"Don't look so worried, Bella," he laughed. "Are you hungry?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I could eat."

"Good. I thought we could go to one of my favorite places and then eat it at the park across the street."

One of Edward's favorite places ended up being a pizza place that also served calzones and sandwiches. There was a seating area inside of it, but also a walk up window to order food.

After getting a huge slice of pizza and drinks each, we went to sit down at a picnic table in the park.

We were quiet while we ate, but I could feel Edward looking at me.

"What made you call me?" he finally asked.

"I don't know. I wanted to see you again. I was upset about my fight with Alice and you were the first person I thought to call." I mentally slapped myself. "God, I don't want to freak you out or anything like that."

"No, no," Edward shook his head. "It doesn't bother me. Go on."

"Okay, well. After I went home, I guess I realized that I was less upset by your age than I thought I would be. I was just..surprised. I never would have guessed your age. You look so...not forty." I blushed and looked down at my plate.

"Thanks," Edward laughed. "I like to take care of myself. I jog every morning and try to eat healthy."

I arched an eyebrow and looked down at his pepperoni pizza and coke. "Okay, when I'm not eating pizza."

"Anyway, Alice is like...super involved in my life. I love her, but she's really pushy and she is probably too involved in my life. She was pushing for me to date and then she finds out your age and she acts like she knows what's best for me."

"She's just looking out for you," he pointed out. "I can understand where she's coming from."

"I know," I sighed. "It's just...I want to make my own decisions. I didn't need her to go at me like that."

"Well, give her time. She'll see that everything is okay and get used to the idea."

I couldn't help the smile on my face. The way he said that made it sound like we would be together for a while.

Except we weren't together now.

Or yet.

"I'm stuffed," Edward said, groaning and patting his stomach.

"Me too," I said. "Anything else planned?"

"Actually, I live only a couple blocks away from here. I was wondering if you'd like to meet two little ones very special to me?"

I gulped. Instantly worried. He had kids. I just knew it. "Yeah. Sounds good."

We threw our trash away and got back in his car. Apparently we would most likely be returning to the park.

I tried to brace myself for what was about to happen. I'd act cool. Calm. I wouldn't panic.

"You okay?" Edward asked, looking over at me. We were pulling into the driveway of a small house.

"Yeah," I forced a smile. "I'm great."

He seemed pleased by the answer and we got out of the car, him leading me up the steps to his house.

I took one last deep breath as he unlocked the door.

What I expected was two kids running up to greet Edward with a sitter.

What I did not expect was two gigantic dogs to come running up to _me_, barking loudly with tails wagging.

"Holy shit!" I yelled as one of the dogs stopped short just in front of me, causing me to instinctively take a step back.

Clumsy as I was though, I tripped, falling backward.

Luckily, Edward was able to reach out and steady me before I fell.

"Are you okay?" he said, still holding on to me.

"Yeah," I nodded. "My heart just needs to stop beating out of my chest."

"Sorry about that. They're usually hanging out in the backyard. They must have heard me pull up and came in," he said.

"So you don't have kids?" I blurted out.

"What?"

"Kids, I mean...you wanted me to meet the dogs, right?" I clarified.

"No, no kids. Just my dogs," he replied, sounding quick to correct me.

"Oh. Okay. What are their names?"

"You thought I had kids?" Edward asked, ignoring my question.

"You were with your ex for over ten years. It's not an impossibility." I bent down on my knees to pet one of the dogs, who in turn licked my face.

"Yuck."

"Tanya didn't want kids. We discussed it, but decided it wasn't for us."

Edward sounded wistful almost. Like he did want children.

This allowed another moment for the feeling of being in over my head to settle in.

"Anyway, the dog you're petting now is Lulu. The other one is Chester. They're Irish Wolfhounds," he said.

"They're huge," I said, almost in awe. Lulu, the bigger one of the two looked like she would be almost Edwards height if she stood on her hind legs.

"You're not scared of dogs, are you? I know they're intimidating looking, but they're really just big softies," he said, looking concerned.

"Not at all," I shook my head. "Dogs are cool. I was just expecting something...different."

Edward, ignoring my last comment, reached over to a hook next to the door, he grabbed two leashes. "I thought that we could go walk them. There's a dog run in the park."

He hooked the leashes on their collars and then held out Chesters leash to me. "Want one?"

I nodded and took the leash from me.

As we walked down the street, our hands keep brushing against each other. The first couple times, I thought it was just accidental, but the brushes became lingering. I smiled up at Edward, who was already looking down at me.

When our hands brushes again, instead of a lingering touch, he took my hand in his and tugged me closer to him.

0-0

While the dogs were playing in the dog run, Edward and I sat down next to each other on a bench.

The afternoon had been good, but I was still left with questions. I could see myself falling for Edward. I wasn't sure if I wasn't already. I didn't know everything about him, but what I did know, I liked.

I didn't know if my past experience or my age made me feel more unworthy of being with him.

"What's on your mind?" Edward asked. "You look like you're thinking hard about something."

"I guess...I'm confused about why you sought out me." A sudden thought entered my head. Maybe there wasn't just me. I'm sure Edward had a ton of matches. It was naive to think that I would be the only one he would go out on a date with, and I wouldn't fault him for that."

"You were the only one that caught my eye," he replied, as if knowing the road my thoughts were going down.

"The only one?" He nodded. "But...why?"

I hated that I sounded so insecure. Hell, I was insecure. Edward was an incredibly handsome, kind man. I had no doubt he could have his pick of women.

"Well, obviously the first thing that made me click on your profile, besides how high a match we were, was how beautiful I thought you were."

I looked down at my lap.

"You are, Bella. Very beautiful. But after that, during our messaging back and forth, I found out that you were funny and smart."

I sat quietly after listening to him.

I wanted to believe him but...I just still had doubts.

"I'm twenty-one. I'm still in college and I live in apartment that my step-dad pays for. My experience with guys is minimal at best and—"

Edward shushes me.

"First of all, your age doesn't matter to me at all. You're in college. You only have a year left. It's not like you're in high school. When I was in college my parents paid for my apartment. It's probably a little forward of me to say, and I'm sorry if it's too much, but you're inexperience is another thing that attracted me to you."

I was definitely blushing then. But with everything he said was said with a sincerity and logic that I started to believe him.

"Don't think that I'm somehow better than you because I'm older than you and have more life experience. I don't look at it like that and you shouldn't either."  
>"Okay," I looked up at him, smiling to show him that I was okay.<p>

"If anything, I should be questioning you on what you want with an old man like me," he joked.

I bumped my shoulder with his. "Hey, you're not that old. But in all seriousness, what I told you before was true. I wasn't as upset about you age as I thought I would be and that confused me. I guess it's because I've always felt...out of place. More mature than people my age. Especially with guys. My only attempt at a relationship with someone ended up in failure and I shied away from guys after that."

"So you like me for my maturity, not my devilishly handsome good looks?" he joked, lightening the situation.

"Pretty much," I joked back.

Before we could say anything else, Lulu came running up to us and barked, bowing and wagging her tail.

"You wanna go, Lu?" Edward asked. When she whined back, I laughed.

"Looks like she's had enough," I said, rubbing behind her ear.

"Seems to have." He whistled for Chester, who came running over.

After we got them both leashed, we left the park, heading back to his place.

"Do you want to have a cup of coffee?" Edward asked when we got inside his place.

"No, thanks. I should really be going home, actually. I have some work to get done," I said regretfully.

Edward grabbed his keys and led me back out to his car again.

When we reached my place, he parked his car and walked up to my apartment with me.

"I had a really nice time today, Edward," I said, standing at my door.

"Yeah? I did too."

"Good," I smiled.

"Good," Edward murmured. He licked his lips and looked down at mine. "I'm going to kiss you now."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

His lips were on mine, hard and insistent. I groaned, parting my lips to feel his tongue run along my bottom lip before slowly stroking against my tongue.

After minutes of an impromptu make out session in front of my door, I was breathless.

"I'll call you, okay?" Edward asked when we parted.

"Okay," I said, still trying to steady my breathing. "Sounds good."

* * *

><p>Nothing like serious talks so soon, right?<p>

Thanks for the reviews and rec's. See you next time.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the days late update!

* * *

><p>I didn't get to see Edward for the rest of the week, or weekend.<p>

I was super busy studying for finals that were the next week, so our schedules didn't match up. Luckily, Edward promised me that things would quiet down for him in the next week.

But that didn't mean that I didn't talk to him.

It started out with a morning phone call, but as Friday and the week progressed, it turned into texting during the day whenever I was taking a break from studying.

Finals week went by and luckily, I was pretty confident that I did well in all my classes.

After my last class of the year, I met Edward to go out to dinner.

I could tell something was on Edward's mind throughout dinner, but he didn't bring it up, so I didn't push.

By the time dessert came, I just let myself worry.

Sure, the date was good; great. We could just keep talking and talking without running out of things to say.

But I was a natural worrier.

Was he coming to his senses just after I had come to mine?

Did he not want to be involved with me?

Were we breaking up?

I chided myself at my last question. No, we weren't breaking up. We couldn't break up because there was nothing _to _break up.

Feeling put out, I stabbed angrily at my cheesecake.

"Bella, I was hoping we could talk about something," Edward said, oblivious to my inner monologue.

And there is was. "Yeah, sure." I put my fork down on my plate and pushed it away from me, toward Edward.

Instead of leaving it, he picked up the fork and started eating the rest.

"Are you still going on Match Finder, or dating other people right now?" he asked through a mouthful of cheesecake.

"No," I shook my head.

"I know that you said on our first date that there wasn't anyone else. I just wanted to see if that had changed."

"It hasn't. Why? Are you dating other people?" I asked. I silently prayed that he wasn't, but I knew that I shouldn't expect him to not be.

"No. There were other women that contacted me, but none of them seemed...right. It didn't seem right."

"Oh."

"Yes. Bella, I know what I want in a woman. I also know that I don't want to date around. I did my fair share of that in college and high school. I want something serious and I hope that you do too."

That hadn't been what I was expecting at all, which seemed to be a recurring theme when it came to Edward.

I had to think about it for a minute.

I was generally an introverted person.

The idea of dating a lot of guys never did appeal to me.

I saw my mother doing it before she found Phil and I saw Alice go through strings of guys until she found Jasper.

I just wasn't that girl.

"I don't want to date tons of guys. It's never been something I was interested in doing. It's just not me," I told him.

Edward seemed to visibly relax.

"So, what I'm really trying to get at here is I hope that we can be exclusive. I know we only recently met and this may seem fast, but I go for what I want."

I mentally swooned.

There was something just so...hot about a man knowing what he wanted and going for it.

Even hotter when what he wanted was _me_.

"Okay. That sounds...that sounds good. Exclusive." I tested the word out. It did sound good.

"I do have one question though," he said, finishing up the cheesecake.

"Go on."

"You mentioned a failed relationship. I guess I'm curious as to what happened."

I looked down. How did I explain Jacob to him?

"You don't have to answer that now. I don't want to push," Edward said, sensing my hesitation.

"No, no. I'll tell you. But not here? We could go back to my place and talk."

I used the drive back to my apartment to gather my thoughts and think about what I was going to tell Edward.

By the time we were sitting on my couch, I was pretty sure I knew what I wanted to say.

"I knew Jacob like, my entire life, practically. He's from La Push, which is right near Forks. Our dads are best friends. All vacations I took visiting my dad, I always ended up hanging out with Jacob. When I moved to Forks permanently, he really became my best friend. He was always there for me.

I never saw him as more than a friend. I mean, he was there for me through high school crushes and he was my shoulder to cry on when the guy I lost my virginity to, Mike, dumped me."

"Then that changed?" Edward asked.

I curled up further into a ball on the sofa.

"Yeah, I guess? When I was going off to college, Jake was staying in La Push. He told me that he was in love with me and didn't want to let the opportunity pass him. He kissed me. He told me that we were already so great together as friends that being more would only be the natural progression.

Everything was great in the beginning. We talked all the time, alternated weekends between Forks and Seattle."

I paused and took a deep breath. This is where things got a little difficult to talk about.

"It started out with small things. He'd get mad if I didn't answer his calls right away or if I took too long to respond to his texts. He would ask me to send him pics before I would go off to school, innocent ones. Then he would text me back and ask me why I was wearing what I was wearing.

He started to dictate everything in my life. From what I was wearing, to who I was hanging out with. The worst part I guess is that I let him. For a year. He was over a hundred miles away but he still had control over my life."

"My dad and Sue had no idea. In front of them he was his normal, charming self. Alice didn't have a clue either until he wanted me to stop hanging out with her as well. I started making excuses as to why I couldn't hang out with her. Eventually I just stopped answering her phone calls.

Of course, Alice didn't like that and confronted me about it. I broke down and told her. She urged me to tell my dad. My dad told Jacobs dad, Billy."

"What happened then?" Edward asked.

"My dad was pissed." I smiled at the memory of my dad threatening to kill Jacob and bury the body in the woods. He had been joking...I think. "It was bad enough that I was losing my best friend, but I was scared that I had ruined my dad and Billy's friendship...but luckily I didn't."

"What happened to Jacob?"

I shrugged. "He's around, still. Billy doesn't bring him up much. I don't think he lives in La Push anymore. That's it, I guess."

"Bella," Edward pulled me over to him from across the couch and I laid my head on his chest. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. No one deserves to."

When I didn't respond, he asked, "you do know that you didn't deserve that, right?"

I shook my head slightly.

"You honestly think that you deserved to be treated that way?" He sounded appalled.

"I let it go on for a year. I knew what was happening. I knew that the relationship wasn't healthy. But I let it happen. I thought I loved Jacob. Our dads wanted us to be together. I didn't want to let them down."

"It never turned physical though, right? It was solely emotional and verbal?"

I hesitated again and felt Edward's grip tighten on me.

"No, he never hit me. I never was scared of him hitting me."

I could feel Edwards body relax under me.

"It's just..." I trailed off. I didn't think that I could tell him this. I didn't know what he would think of me afterward.

"Just what?" he prodded.

"Jacob expected sex...a lot. Further into our relationship even when I didn't want it, I would still let him."

I froze, waiting for Edward to push me off of him and call me a slut.

"I hated myself for it. I never said no, but I didn't want it."

"Let me tell you this," he said, running his fingers down my back. "This Jacob guy sounds like an asshole. An immature, little punk. Real men don't treat women that way. None of it was your fault. You didn't deserve it and didn't ask for it."

My body melted into his at his firm, reassuring tone.

"Okay," I said, closing my eyes.

I didn't understand what was happening.

Everything with Edward seemed like it was happening so fast. Had it really just been last week that we had met?

I couldn't help but feel like that no matter how right things felt, that it was all so sudden. Maybe too sudden.

But that thought quickly left my mind when I felt Edward place a kiss on my forehead. I tilted my head up to reach his lips and he tilted his down, meeting mine.

Slow and soft open mouth kisses left me breathless.

It wasn't until I groaned into his mouth that parted from me.

"I should probably get going," he whispered, pecking me again on the forehead. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah." I nodded against his chest before pulling away and standing up. "Thanks for...everything."

"You don't have to thank me. When are you coming back home?"

"I'll be back on Monday morning, I think. Unless they try to rope me into staying longer."

I was going to spend the weekend in Forks. It was a long overdue trip home. Since the school year was officially over, I didn't really have an excuse to not go there for the weekend.

It wasn't that I didn't want to see my dad or Sue, but being in Forks meant the likelihood that I could run into Jacob would increase.

Since I broke up with him, I had managed to only see him a few times.

None of which had been too pleasant.

"Okay. Call me if you can. Or text, email, page, fax..." Edward trailed off, smiling.

"Page? Does anyone even still use a pager besides doctors?" I joked.

Edward poked my side, tickling me. "Hey, I'm an old man. Pagers were all the rage when I was your age."

"Whatever you say,_ old man_." I rolled my eyes. "I'll call. promise."

After another long kiss goodnight, he was gone.

The weekend couldn't be over quick enough.

* * *

><p>So, this was my first time writing a jerk Jacob. Hope you liked it.<p>

A few of you have told me before, but I keep forgetting to ask. Do you have any online dating horror/success stories? Leave it in a review! I'd love to heard them.

Also, I updated my blog with a new post. Link for that is on my profile.

I think that's all for now. See you next time!


	7. Chapter 7

Surprise?

* * *

><p>Early Saturday morning my dad came to drive me back to Forks.<p>

"Thanks for uh...not taking the cruiser," I joked. Last time he had gotten me, he had picked me up from school in it, which turned more than a few heads.

"Yeah, well. Sue convinced me otherwise. Something about not wanting to scare away your friends." He shrugged.

"Ah," I said. Suddenly it made sense that we were in Sue's sedan.

I didn't bother telling him that I didn't have any friends to scare away.

"Hey, you hungry, kid?" Charlie asked, nudging me.

"Huh?" I groaned, sitting up in the seat and stretching my neck. "Sorry I fell asleep. Food sounds good."

I realized I must have fallen asleep for a couple hours, because the coffee shop we stopped at was only about an hour out of Forks.

After a quick breakfast, we were back on the road. It seemed that the closer we got to Forks, the more uneasy I felt.

If my dad noticed it though, he didn't say anything.

Realistically, I knew that Jacob wouldn't be there.

I didn't have a restraining order or anything against him, but between my dad and his, he wouldn't dare to show up.

A part of me felt I was being stupid. Jacob had given me no sign that he was still thinking about me.

I felt like maybe it was just all in my head.

But I couldn't shake the worry.

0-0

The weekend seemed to drag by.

There wasn't much to do in Forks unless you were the outdoorsy type, which I definitely wasn't.

So, the majority of my trip home was spent parked in front of the couch, watching TV, or helping Sue around the house.

The definite bright spot in my weekend was talking to Edward.

We would text throughout the day. At night when I was laying in bed I would call him and I would talk in a hushed voice, careful that my dad wouldn't hear.

I felt sixteen.

My dad, ever clueless for a cop, didn't notice my small smiles as I clutched at my phone, texting throughout my weekend there.

Sue, however, did notice.

"What are you so smiley about?" She asked me. It was Sunday night.

We had just finished dinner and now I was helping to clear the table while Dad checked in at work.

"Nothing," I replied quickly.

"Liar," Sue laughed. "It's a boy, isn't it?"

"Well..." I paused, weighing the pros and cons of telling her.

"Don't worry, I won't tell your father," she whispered conspiratorially.

"Okay. Yeah. It is a...boy." I said. It felt weird calling Edward a boy. He was just so...not.

"I knew it," she smiled. "Tell me about him."

I thought of what to tell her. How much to tell her.

"His names Edward."

"Edward. That's a good name. Did you meet him at school?"

"Umm...not exactly." I quickly launched into the story about too much wine and Alice's meddling ways.

"Wow. So serious, so fast. That must be fun, and a bit scary," she said. "It's not every day you meet a guy your age that knows what he wants so well."

And there it was. I decided to tell Sue about the age difference though. I trusted her and thought that she could maybe give me insight on how to handle my dad.

"Well, that's the thing. He's not exactly my age. He's a bit older," I said, chewing on my bottom lip.

"A bit?"

I nodded.

"And my a bit you mean?" Sue trailed off, leaving me to fill in the rest.

"Nineteen years?"

"Oh, boy," she said, fanning herself. "I need to sit down for this. Go get the wine."

I carried the remaining dirty dishes to the kitchen sink and came back with a bottle of white wine and two glasses.

After almost filling our glasses with wine, Sue began to talk.

"Nineteen years is a lot, Bella. He's forty."

"Next month," I corrected her. "He's still thirty-nine."

Sue rolled her eyes. "I don't know if your dad is going to like this. Have you told your mom yet?"

"No." I shook my head. "Not yet. Everything is still so new...and happening really fast. Besides that, I already told Alice about his age."

"And?"

"It didn't go so well. I haven't talked to her since we fought over it. She thinks he's some sort of creep and accused me of having daddy issues." I laughed humorlessly.

"I'm sorry. You know how protective Alice is of you, though. She worries. Her hearts in the right place but she can be very...Alice."

I nodded, knowing all too well.

Another thought came to me. "You won't tell Leah or Seth either, right?"

Leah and Seth were technically my step siblings. Seth was in his first year of college in Oregon and Leah was Alice's age.

They didn't really seem like siblings to me, though. Sue and my dad had only been dating when I was in high school, so I had never lived with them before. I didn't really feel close to them.

"Of course not," Sue said. "This is just between you and me. But I must say, don't wait too long to tell your dad. I think it would be best to do it in person. Maybe even have Edward come with you to Forks. Meeting him might make him see that he's a good guy."

I blanched at the idea.

No way could I bring Edward here, to Forks.

At least not yet.

But I had a feeling that as soon as I told my dad about Edward that he would insist on meeting him.

"Bella, I'm not saying you have to tell him right now," Sue said, probably seeing that I was starting to freak out. "But the sooner the better."

I nodded, agreeing with her. Maybe I could come back in a couple weeks for a weekend, or Dad and Sue could come visit me.

Sue finished her wine and stood up, bending down to hug me. "Now, you go upstairs and go talk to your...man. I'll finish up in here."

0-0

"Are you having fun at home, baby?"

"Yeah," I said. "Well, as much fun as you can have in Forks. It's pretty dead here."

I walked over to my bed and laid down on it. As soon as Sue dismissed me, I ran upstairs and called Edward.

"At least you're coming home tomorrow. I haven't asked you yet, what are your plans for the summer?"

"Umm...I'm not sure. I probably won't be working a lot this summer and I'm not taking any summer classes," I told him.

The bookstore had limited hours during the summer session, so I would probably only work a few hours a week. This would also be the first summer that I hadn't taken summer classes. Basically, I was looking at a pretty boring summer.

"I see. That's good to know. Well, hopefully we can do lots of fun stuff this summer."

"Oh? And what qualifies as fun stuff?" I laughed.

"Whatever you want. Lunch dates, movies, day trips, walking the dogs in the park. I don't know. My parents have a boat. We could take it out."

Wow. "That sounds fun."

"Does it? Good," he replied, sounding pleased with himself.

There were a few beats of silence where I didn't know how to say what I wanted to.

So I just spit it out.

"I told my step-mom about you."

"How did that go?" His tone sounded cautious, worried, almost.

"It wasn't bad. Sue's pretty cool about things. She's more concerned about how my dad will take it."

"He'll take it badly, I assume?"

"Yeah," I paused, unsure. "I think he'll take it badly at first, but he'll warm up to you. I hope."

Edward laughed. "Wow, that's comforting, Bella."

"Hey, it's better than nothing!" I laughed back.

"Sue thought that it would be a good idea for you to come to Forks. To meet him. Maybe it would soften the blow? God, I know everything is moving so fast. This is probably freaking you out. I'm sorry. Now I'm rambling. Great." I clamped my hand over my mouth and groaned. How embarrassing.

"No, no. Everything about us is really unconventional anyway, Bella. Don't worry about me meeting your dad. I'm fine with it. Unless you think it's too soon for me to, or you don't want me to just yet. I understand."  
>"Okay. I think I'll tell him next weekend? I might go to Forks for a visit. Just to get it over with," I winced, realizing how that sounded.<p>

"Geez, Bella," he laughed. "Tell me how you really feel!"

"Sorry, sorry. I just can't really imagine the conversation going very smoothly."

"I could always go with you, if you'd like?" he suggested.

"Nah, that's okay. I think if I give him time to process it and Sue to help him get used to the idea. Then you can come over. Thanks for asking though."

"Of course."

I changed the subject, asking Edward about his weekend.

"I went out last night with a couple friends. This morning I had breakfast at my parents. Sunday tradition."

"That sounds fun. What did you do with your friends?" I admit, my asking wasn't entirely innocent. Edward hadn't mentioned friends before, but I knew that he must have had them. But what I was really curious about was if they included girls.

"We went to a pub. It was fun. Emmett came along as well as my friends Garrett and Ben."

"Cool. I've never been to a pub before," I said.

"Really? We'll definitely have to go. I love the place. It's been around forever and has been one of my favorite haunts since I moved out here after college. It's actually an Irish pub."

"Oh, yeah. You're Irish, right?" I asked. I remembered him briefly mentioning he was.

"Through and through. My parents are both Irish. My mom was born and raised there and my dad's parents were both from there. He met my mom when he was vacationing there."

"Aww, that's sweet. It also definitely explains the reddish hair."

"And my two Irish wolfhounds. And my tattoos."

"Tattoos?" I asked, gulping.

"You haven't seen me without my shirt on. I have a Celtic knot on my back and a quote on my ribs."

"What does the quote say?"

"It says 'an rud is annamh is íontach,'" he said. I felt like I was going to melt. Edward speaking Gaelic? Hottest thing ever. "It means 'what is seldom is wonderful.' I guess I got it to remind myself to just...hold on to what's good. Appreciate the good in life. It's kind of stupid, maybe. It was an impulse tattoo."

"No," I disagreed, shaking my head even though I knew he wouldn't be able to see. "I like the quote."

"Thanks, you'll have to see them soon then."

"Yeah, that sounds good," I replied. I felt like salivating at the thought of seeing Edward without a shirt on.

I was disrupted from my thoughts when I heard barking and whining on the other side of the line.

"Ah, shit," Edward cursed. "I have to get going. Chester's harassing me to go out. Call me tomorrow when you get home?"

"I'll call. I'm hoping to get home before noon. But my dad is kind of slow in the mornings."

"Alright, well maybe if you're free we can have lunch or dinner?" Edward asked.

"Yeah, sounds good. Goodnight, Edward."

"Night, Bella."

0-0

The next morning I woke up with the sun.

I groaned and rolled out of bed, stretching.

After getting ready for the day, I headed downstairs and started on breakfast, hoping that the smells of bacon and coffee would wake up dad and Sue.

Sure enough, as soon as I started to plate the food, he came downstairs to eat.

An hour later, we were on the road back to Seattle.

Three hours later, I was being dropped off outside of my apartment.

"Well, you keep yourself out of trouble, okay?" he asked. We were sitting in Sue's car outside.

"Got it. I'll try to not get myself arrested," I joked.

He gave me a stern look. "Kidding, just joking."

"Right, well. It was nice having you home for the weekend. Maybe you can stop being a stranger and come visit more often." Dad tried to come off as nonchalant, but I could tell that he honestly meant it. I felt a twinge of guilt for not coming home more often. For letting Jacob continue to get to me.

"I will. Promise." I leaned forward and hugged him before grabbing my bags and getting out of the car.

Once I was back in my place and settled down, I grabbed my phone and called Edward.

"So, I was thinking we could get dinner?" I asked as soon as he answered the phone.

"Dinner sounds good. Do you want to come over tonight at 7? We could order in and watch a movie or something," Edward suggested.

Alone, in a house with Edward?

Yes and please.

"Sure. Dinner."

* * *

><p>Happy EasterPassover/Sunday!

I'm kind of blown away/thrilled at all the new alerts/faves for this story. It's really awesome. Also what's awesome is all the reviewers!

So, if you liked this chapter, maybe leave a review and say hi? If you haven't shared already, I'm still interested in hearing about your older guy/online dating stories! You guys already told me some pretty good ones.

As always, I reply to all reviews for the previous chapter.

Oh, and for a little olderward visual, as Edlovesme pointed out, the recent pictures of Rob paddleboarding are pretty much how I picture this Edward. Except without the beard. Maybe just a little scruff. And longer hair. I updated my blog with a couple of pics of him just in case you guys don't know what I'm talking about. As always, link for that's on my profile.

Wow, this is kind of a wordy A/N.

Anyways...don't forget to review! And I'll see you guys again on Friday. Maybe a little citrusy next time? We'll see.


	8. Chapter 8

Okay, I lied. It's not Friday today.

* * *

><p>By six-thirty I had showered, shaved and just finished applying some makeup. I threw on a pair of denim shorts, a tank top and my Keds, loving that the weather was finally warm enough.<p>

Since I didn't have my own car, Edward picked me up at seven and we drove back to his place.

"You look really nice tonight, Bella," he said, leaning over the center console and running his index finger along my outer thigh.

I bite my lip, holding back a moan.

With just one small little touch it felt like my body was on fire.

Edward looked over at me and smirked.

He knew damn well what he was doing.

"Are the dogs going to jump me as soon as I walk in?" I asked worriedly, following behind Edward up the steps to his front door.

"Nah." He shook his head. "They're in their room."

"They have a room?" I laughed, thinking he was joking.

"It's my office. Their beds are in there. When they were puppies I let them sleep with me on the bed, but at their size, even my California King is too small."

I spaced out after that, daydreaming about Edward in bed. With me on top of him.

"Bella?" Edward asked, holding the front door open for me. "Are you going to come in?"

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry," I blushed and walked past him into the house.

"So, I don't really have anything to cook," he said, beckoning me to follow him to the kitchen. "I

thought we could order takeout."

Edward pulled open a drawer in the kitchen, revealing it to be full of takeout menus.

"Do you ever cook?" I asked, looking through the drawer. There was basically a menu for every type of food.

"Uh, not really," Edward grinned sheepishly. "I'm not good in the kitchen. Tanya always did the cooking when we were together, so the past few years I've just been eating out.

I stiffened and felt a twinge of jealousy at him mentioning Tanya so casually.

Edward must have noticed that my demeanor changed, because he came over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist from behind.

"Hey, I'm sorry if me bringing her up makes you uncomfortable." I felt him kiss the top of my head before resting his chin on it.

"No, no." I shook my head. "She was part of your life for a long time. I get that. It's unreasonable to think that you would never mention her."

"Thanks for understanding. And remember, you never have to feel threatened by her. Ever."

I nodded in understanding.

"Anyway, enough about her. why don't you pick something out? I don't have a preference. I'm going to let the dogs out into the backyard."

I sifted through the menus, finally settling on Chinese.

Edward ordered for us after he told me to pick out a couple movies to watch.

After browsing through all his DVDs, I found two that I thought we both might like and then sat back down on the couch.

"The food will be here in about an hour. Do you wanna start a movie now?" Edward asked, walking back into the room.

"Sure." I shrugged. "Whatever you want to do."

"Okay, do you mind if I let the dogs back in? I think they want to come say hi."

"Umm...sure," I replied, a lot less sure sounding than I had been before. Edward cocked an eyebrow, not believing me.

"Sorry. It's just they're so...big. Takes a little getting used to. It's totally okay though. Bring them in," I assured him.

Edward nodded and went to bring them back in.

I braced myself, hearing their frantic paws against the linoleum kitchen floor as they ran toward me.

"Oomph," I groaned as one of them, Lulu, I think, jumped up on the couch on top of me.

Chester just sat at my feet, his huge head nudging my hand to pet him.

"Lulu!" Edward admonished. "I need some space to sit down too."

Lulu turned her head to give Edward a bored look before snorting and jumping off the couch to lay down at my feet.

Edward turned on the movie and then sat down next to me, pulling me to him and grabbing my

legs, throwing them over his lap.

I stared at the movie, but I honestly couldn't even tell what was happening in it.

Edward was pure distraction.

I don't think I had ever been happier to wear shorts as his hands ran up and down my legs.

"You have such soft skin," he murmured, kissing me right behind my ear.

"Thanks," I squeaked out. "It's the body butter from The Body Shop."

I mentally face-palmed. Really, Bella?

He chuckled. "Well, it's definitely doing its job."

Edward carried on for twenty more deliciously torturous minutes.

I was undeniably turned on and by the bulge on Edward's lap that I felt underneath me.

Chester and Lulu went crazy, barking up a storm.

Definitely a mood dampener.

"That should be the food. I'll be right back," he said, sounding completely unfazed. He kissed my temple and moved my legs off of him so he could get up.

Chester calmed down and I pet his head, waiting for Edward to return with the food.

After ushering the dogs back into their room, he laid all the food out on the coffee table.

"Do you want a plate? Or we can just share out of the cartons."

"Either." I shrugged.

"Cartons it is, then."

I couldn't even focus on the movie while we ate.

It was useless even trying to.

I don't think I'd noticed before, but Edward eating was...erotic.

I never knew that someone eating could be just like porn.

But the way he would make little moans as he ate and dart his tongue out to lick up sauce off his lips was mesmerizing.

"Are you going to eat or just keep staring at me?" he asked through a mouthful of chow mein. He wasn't even looking at me, instead his eyes were trained on the television.

"What?" I asked. "I'm just watching you hoovering that food."

"Hmm. Keep telling yourself that, Bella." He laughed.

I huffed and finished eating.

After we were done and the movie finished, I helped him carry all the food back into the kitchen.

Back in the living room, Edward put on the next DVD I picked and we resumed our position on the couch.

This time though, I didn't just remain passive as he continued his previous ministrations.

I straddled his lap, surprising him momentarily.

I didn't give him a chance to speak though, because my lips were on his.

Closed mouth kisses turned quickly to open mouthed ones when my tongue ran along his

bottom lip.

I felt him hard underneath me and I ground myself onto his lap.

"Fuck," Edward cursed under his breath, pulling his lips away from mine.

Before I could even process it, I was laying underneath Edward on the couch.

His mouth moved from mine and down to my neck and collarbone.

He was driving me crazy, nipping at my skin then soothing it with his tongue and lips.

I wriggled my hips, pressing them up in his, making him groan against my skin.

"Let me make you feel good," he whispered, moving his head up to look me in the eyes.

I nodded, unable to speak.

Edward balanced his weight on his forearm while his other hand trailed down from my hair to my chest.

I sucked in a deep breath when his hand snuck underneath the neck of my tank top and into my bra.

He pushed the neck and cups down and tilted his head down, taking my nipple in his mouth.

I let out a whimper and shut my eyes, letting myself just feel.

His hand continued downward until it reached the waistband of my shorts.

But he didn't stop there. His hand trailed down along the zipper of my shorts and then the seam of them, rubbing me through the denim.

My hips arched into his hand, urging him to press harder.

"Patience." He chuckled. "I'm having my fun."

After pressing against me again, he moved his hand lower to the opening of my shorts.

Then inside them.

He groaned, feeling how wet I was.

"You like this, don't you?"

I nodded. "Mhmm."

He slipped his fingers into my underwear and ran two fingers along either side of my clit...but not touching it.

"Please," I whined.

I felt his chest vibrating with laughter.

I wanted to cry when he zeroed in on my clit, rubbing at is furiously.

"Oh, god," I moaned.

Edward was unrelentless as he rubbed my clit.

I was so so close and nearly cried in frustration when he stopped his movements.

Before I was able to beg him to continue, he slipped two fingers inside of me and used his thumb to circle my clit.

"I'm gonna come," I said breathlessly. "Oh, god."

My orgasm hit me hard.

My entire body shuddered and stilled. And yet still Edward didn't relent.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and snapped my legs shut, trapping his hand there.

Edward pulled his hand free and I watched through hooded eyes as he licked his fingers clean, all the while keeping his eyes on mine.

I didn't think I could move if I wanted to, I was reduced to a puddle after my first non self-induced orgasm.

But then realizing that Edward was still left unsatisfied, I lazily reached for his zipper.

"Not tonight," he said, backing away from my hands. Seeing the confused look on my face, he continued. "I just wanted to do that for you. I'm fine."

I arched an eyebrow at him.

"Okay, well I can take care of myself later," he reasoned.

My jaw dropped at the thought of Edward in bed, or better yet, in the shower, touching himself.

"Calm down, tiger." He laughed.

He maneuvered us so that I was laying on top of him now.

"Stay the night with me?" he asked.

"Yes."

As if I could say no.

* * *

><p>*peeks out from behind rock* Was that splash of citrus okay? I hope you liked it.<p>

I'm still blown away by all your guys support. You are all awesome.

Question: Do you guys like seeing pics for the chapters? Like, I always have a specific outfit in mind, would you guys like to see that on the blog? Or pics of Edwards house, places they go, etc? If so, I'll put them on my blog, the link for which you can find on my profile.

I probably won't update again on Friday. The posting schedule is non-existent now.

Don't forget to review and let me know what you think! I'll see you guys next time.


	9. Chapter 9

Hi guys. See you at the bottom.

* * *

><p>After we laid together on the couch for a few more minutes, Edward got up and led me to the bedroom.<p>

"Do you want a shirt to sleep in?" Edward asked.

I nodded, suddenly feeling shy. The post-orgasm glow was gone and I was left with feeling self conscious.

Had my noises been strange? What about the faces I made? I groaned, remembering how he licked his fingers.

Did I taste okay?.

"Hey," Edward said, walking up to me and handing me the shirt. "Whatever's going on in that head of yours that's got you frowning, stop."

"Okay. I'm sorry, I guess I'm just a little embarrassed."

"Don't apologize. And you have nothing to be embarrassed about. Nothing we do together is embarrassing, remember that now."

"Okay," I replied, his words making me feel a little better.

"Good. I'm going to go get a bottle of water. Do you want one?"

I nodded.

Once Edward left the room, I quickly changed into the t-shirt and then went to the adjoining bathroom to freshen up.

When I came back in the room, Edward was sitting up in bed.

"You tired, baby? We could watch TV for a bit if you aren't." He motioned to the flat screen on the wall opposite the bed.

I climbed into bed and Edward brought me closer to him.

I loved how he reached for me, always wanting me closer.

"Yeah, I'm kinda tired. We can watch TV though if you want."

"Nah, I'm tired too. Do you need me to set an alarm?"

I shook my head and scooted down into the bed with him.

"I don't have anywhere to be."

"Good. Me neither."

Edward, it turned out, really was tired. It seemed like within minutes he was fast asleep.

Me, on the other hand? Not so much.

I couldn't seem to turn my mind off and kept replaying the evenings events over and over again in my head.

The way Edward touched me and made me feel.

It was like nothing I had ever felt before.

Jacob had solely been about himself. He hardly ever took my needs into consideration and when he did it was just with half-hearted efforts.

But Edward put me first. He was able to play my body incredibly well and with just his fingers.

The insecure part of me wondered just how much experience he had to back him up.

Yes, he had been with his girlfriend for twelve years, but what about before that? And in the five years since their break up?

I sighed deeply and rolled over in the bed, away from Edward.

He had been so good to me so far and didn't ask for anything in return. I wanted to make him feel as good as he did me.

I decided that in a few hours I would wake him up and try to reciprocate.

With that thought in mind, I allowed myself to drift off into sleep.

0-0

It was hot.

And I was really, really sweaty.

My legs were being held down and my arm was wrapped around something very, very furry.

I cracked my eyes open against the morning light and was met face to face with Chester.

"Ugh," I groaned.

I lifted my head up and saw that Lulu was laying across my legs. Next to Chester was Edward, laying on his stomach with his arm wrapped around Chester as well.

This was not how I intended on waking up at all.

I really needed to pee. And hopefully hop in the shower really quickly.

"Hey, Lulu," I hissed, careful not to wake up Edward.

Nothing.

"Lulu!" I tried moving my foot, but it just caused her to roll over and lick my leg.

"Oh, yuck," I whispered. "Come on Lulu, move. Please?"

"You need some help?" A gravelly voice asked.

"Oh my god," I put my hand to my chest, startled. "You scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry." He leaned up and called for Lulu, then nudged her with his foot. "Up."

Lulu immediately obeyed, hopping off the bed and walking out of the bedroom.

"I must have forgotten to shut the bedroom door. I woke up in the middle of the night and let them outside for a bit," Edward explained.

"You could have woken me up...you know," I said shyly.

"Yeah? And why is that? Edward asked, a lazy smile on his face.

I shrugged, trying to play coy. "I dunno. We could have...talked."

He laughed. "You were out like a light. I think I even heard snoring."

"Hey! I do not snore," I laughed. "Anyway, I need to go freshen up. I'll be right back."

I took a lightning fast shower and swished my mouth with mouthwash before going back into the bedroom.

When I went back into the bedroom, Edward was sitting up in bed, his hair damp and he was shirtless.

"I took a shower too in the guest room," he said. He pulled back the comforter and patted the empty spot next to him. "Come back to bed now? It's still really early."

I looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was just a little after 7 am.

Way too early.

"Oh, can I see your tattoos now?" I asked.

Edward nodded and rolled over onto his side, exposing his back to me.

I was momentarily stunned at his shirtless physique. He wasn't really buff with huge biceps, a six pack, and a hairless chest, but he was strong looking. Solid...like a man.

I started with the tattoo on his side, tracing the words with my fingers.

"You didn't mention the four leaf clover."

"It's pretty much part of the text. I got them at the same. The clover because it ties in with the quote. It's rare...seldom."

I nodded in understanding. "I love it."

Moving to his back, I nudged at Edwards shoulder until he laid down on his stomach.

The knot was bigger than I expected, fitting right between his shoulder blades.

It was also in a triangle shape, the different lines roping and intertwining together.

"I've always wanted to get a tattoo."

"Yeah?"

"I even went so far as to make an appointment with Alice right after I turned eighteen. We went to the place and she ended up getting this horrible looking fairy on her lower back. Total tramp stamp." I laughed, remembering how much Alice loved it.

"You didn't get one?"

"Nope. I chickened out last minute. As soon as I was called for my turn, I grabbed Alice and walked out."

Edward laughed. "Are you afraid of needles?"

"No. I'm afraid of pain."

"It's not so bad, you know. Once you get used to it, it's kind of just a dull pain."

"Hmm. Well maybe I can work up the courage and go back. I still think about getting one sometimes."

"Well, maybe it can be something else we do this summer."

I nodded. "Yeah, maybe."

0-0

We lounged in bed for a few hours longer, drifting between quiet conversation and sleep.

Eventually though, hunger got the best of us and we walked to Starbucks a couple blocks away for coffee and scones.

"So, I have a plan," I said. We were sitting at the park on a bench, eating and drinking our coffee.

"A plan?" Edward asked.

"Yeah. I kind of just decided on it, though. If you don't like it, obviously you can say no."

"Okay. What is it?"

"I thought that I could go back to Forks the week after next. My dad would pick me up here on probably Wednesday. I'd tell him about you then. If you're not busy, maybe you could come there on Saturday and spend the weekend? We could drive back together Sunday night."

My words came out in a rush. I had really just came up with the idea in my head. I guess it had just been that the previous night and morning had been so good, that I wanted my dad to know about Edward. I wanted him to meet Edward and like him.

Edward smiled brightly. "That sounds good, Bella. But only if you're sure."

"I'm positive." I smiled back at him, feeling loads better after having him agree to the idea.

0-0

After going back to Edward's, I figured that I should probably head back home. I was still wearing last night's clothes and really wanted to change.

Edward drove me home, parking when we got outside my building.

"Thanks for coming over last night. I had a lot of fun," he said.

I blushed and looked down, remembering what happened. "Yeah. Me too."

"I think I'm going to be spending a couple days with my family, but I'm not sure. I'll call you though."

"Okay." I nodded. "Does your...does your family know about me?"

"They do," he confirmed. When he saw my wide eyes, he continued. "They don't know the specifics about our situation or about you. But they do know that I've met someone that I'm serious about."

"Oh," I replied. Why hadn't he told them more about me? I couldn't help but wonder, so I asked him.

"I haven't told them who you are or your age because we're moving at your pace, Bella. It's inevitable that once I tell them more about you that they'll insist on meeting you. I want you to be ready and not feel like I'm throwing you to the wolves," he explained.

Throwing me to the wolves? That had me a little concerned.

"Honestly, they're not that bad." Edward laughed, seeing the worried look on my face. "Okay...they may be. My mother especially. She's been asking for years when she could expect a grandbaby from me."

"A grandbaby?" I asked, nearly choking on the words.

"Yeah. As soon as Tanya and I moved in together she started on that. Tanya hated it. She's not the most maternal of women, children weren't on her list of priorities."

"Well, maybe she'll get her grandbabies," I said without thinking.

"Really?"

Were we really talking about having children? I was only twenty-one. Still in college. I wasn't ready to go out and get pregnant right away. But the idea of having kids somewhere down the line wasn't sending the jolt of panic down my spine that I expected.

"Yeah." I shrugged. "In the future."

He seemed pleased by my answer, and after a somewhat lengthy make-out session, I got out of the car and headed upstairs, in one of the best moods I had been in in a long time.

That mood quickly changed though when I saw that Alice was standing outside my front door.

* * *

><p>Hmm, what doe Alice want?<p>

So, you guys said you liked blogs and pics to go along with the story. I've updated my blog with stuff for chapters 8 and 9. You'll get to see a shirtless, wet Rob with tattoos. Just don't laugh at my photoshopping skills!

If you reviewed the last chapter (If you were logged in/had PM's enabled), you got a little snippet of EPOV from chapter 8 in it. As a little thanks to reviewers, I'm going to start including EPOV in all review replies. I can't promise they'll be too revealing or amazing, but I thought it might be nice to get into his mind a little bit.

Also, some of you already have, but come find me on twitter and facebook and say hi. I'm on there a lot.

Okay, that's it. See you guys next time!


	10. Chapter 10

Hey, guys! Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p>Alice was facing away from me, so she didn't see me approaching her.<p>

"Alice? What are you doing here?"

She turned around, startled. "Oh, I didn't hear you coming. I thought you were inside and just childishly ignoring me."

Already, my defenses were up.

"Well, obviously not. I'm just getting in," I noted. I crossed my arms over my chest. "So, what's up?"

"I thought we could talk. I haven't seen or talked to you in ages!" she said. She was acting like everything was normal. Like we hadn't fought. I was suspicious, I couldn't figure out her motive.

"Yeah, sure." I quickly unlocked my door and let her pass me to enter.

"So, you're done with school now, right? We should totally celebrate." She sat down on the couch and took off her shoes and coat, making herself at home.

"I don't know," I said hesitantly. "I don't really feel in the celebratory mood."

"Aww, c'mon. We can go to this awesome club Jasper took me to last week. Ooh, maybe I can see if he can join us and have him bring one of his single friends?"

"I don't think—"

Alice continued on, completely ignoring me. "Or maybe it's better if we just go alone. That way guys won't be afraid to come up to you."

"Alice!" I finally yelled. I don't want to go out. I don't want to meet any guys. I have a boyfriend."

"What? You do?" she asked, excitedly. "Who, who?"

"Edward," I replied, waiting for the backlash.

"Edward...wait. Edward that creeper from Match Finder?"

"He's not a creeper," I defended. "Maybe you could stop being so judgemental."

"I'm not being judgemental, Bella. It's a fact. He just wants a young,Alice's hot girl on his arm and to warm his bed," she scoffed. "I thought that after Jacob you would be smarter than this."

"Alice, stop it. Stay out of my business. Edward is _nothing_ like Jacob, okay?"

"Bella, you knew Jacob for years and years. He was your best friend. Clearly your judgement is lacking and you need someone else to guide you."

"You know what? I don't need to hear this in my own home. Alice, I love you, but right now I _really _don't like you. Please leave. And this time I'll call you when I'm ready. Please don't call me," I told her.

"This is ridiculous," she huffed, putting her shoes and coat back on. "Second time he's had us fighting fighting. Is he really worth it?"

"Yes," I said without hesitation. "He's not the one making us fight, you are."

"Have you even told your parents yet?"

"No." I shook my head. "Not yet. I'm going back home in a week. I'm going to tell him then and

Edward will hopefully come out to meet Sue and Dad."

"Well, good luck with that," she replied sarcastically. "I'll see you around."

I watched wordlessly as Alice stood up and stormed out of my apartment.

0-0

There wasn't much for me to do all day.

I tried not to mope around and feel sorry for myself, but I was having a hard time not to.

I always liked being busy, with my hands and mind.

Restless, I grabbed an old newspaper and pencil and laid down on the couch and started to do the crossword puzzle from it.

At some point I feel asleep, because when I opened my eyes again, it was near dark outside and my body was cramped awkwardly on the couch.

I stood up and stretched.

There was really nothing to do.

Checking my phone, I saw that I had a missed call from Edward.

I listened to his voicemail, then called him back.

"Hey," Edward said when he answered.

"Hi. Sorry, I just woke up. I kinda fell asleep on the couch," I said, rubbing the kinks out of the back of my neck.

"No worries. I just got home too. I've been running around doing errands all day," he said with a yawn.

"Oh? Anything exciting?" I asked.

"Not at all. What did you do today?"

I groaned and sat back down on the couch. "Well, when you dropped me off I went upstairs and found Alice waiting for me."

"Uh-oh. How did that go?" he asked, concerned.

"Pretty much as well as I thought it would go," I replied, then told him the rest of the story.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I wish there was something I could do. Maybe if we all met up for lunch together? She can bring her boyfriend as well?" Edward suggested.

"When Alice has set her mind on something, it's set. She sets her mind to something and then that's that," I explained. "It's best to just...ignore her. Before I just bent to her will. But now I don't want to do that anymore."

I hadn't talked to my Mom in a while, so when she called me later that week on Thursday, I wasn't too shocked. I prepared myself for a long phone call.

As expected, I listened to her chat non-stop for almost two hours.

She talked about her job at the Art Center teaching classes and Phil's job as a Minor League Baseball coach.

After updating me about that, she began catching me up on all the neighborhood gossip. It might have been interesting except for the fact that I didn't know any of the neighbors.

I hadn't been tired before, after having napped for hours, but I found myself nodding off as she rambled on.

"So, what's new with you?" she asked.

Realizing that she was obviously expecting me to answer, I replied with a "not much."

"Oh, come on. Schools over for you! It's summer! What are your plans? Are you going to come to Florida to visit? Do you have enough money to get by? Are there any boys?"

I answered her questions one at a time.

"Yes, schools over. But I'm not sure what I'll be doing this summer. It would be nice to go to Jacksonville for a week or two."

I continued. "I think I have enough money even though I'm working less hours." Phil came from wealthy parents. His parents were alive any more, so their wealth became his.

Luckily, he was pretty generous when it came to me. Not only did he pay for my apartment, he also helped me out with living expenses that I couldn't cover with my paycheck from the campus bookstore.

"And actually...there kind of is a guy."

"Kind of?" she asked, laughing.

"Yeah, well. There is a guy. It's still really new though." I bit my lip.

"But it's serious," she stated, no question in her voice.

"I think so. Yeah. There's something else though. Promise me you won't freak out?"

"Oh, God. You're pregnant, aren't you? Bella, you went on the pill when you were sixteen. I gave you the talk. I'm way too young to be a grandma!"

"Mom! I'm not pregnant," I quickly told her.

"Thank God. At least give me until forty," she sighed. "Then what is it before I start to worry?"

"Edward, the guy, he's older than me. He's kind of like...well, he's almost forty."

There was dead silence on the line. I looked at my phone screen, seeing if she had hung up on me. She hadn't.

"Mom?"

"Sorry. I'm just processing. He's forty? Like, he's the same age as I am?"

"Yes. Now, you promised you wouldn't freak out," I reminded.

"Actually I didn't. And I'm not freaking out. At least, not really. I'm just...he's forty? How did you

meet?"

I launched into the entire story of how Edward I met and told her about the fights I had with Alice.

"Wow, you've really been up to a lot the past couple weeks, haven't you?" she joked.

"Yeah. I have."

"Are you sure about this, though? You trust him?"

"I do," I nodded. "I know I've only known him a little while, but it just seems so much longer. I can't explain it. Things are still so new but comfortable. I never expected it."

"Well, you've always been mature for your age. I trust your judgement. Just...be careful. And be safe!" she added.

"I will, I will. Thanks for being so...understanding. I feel so much better, especially after the whole Alice debacle. Now I just have to tell my dad about Edward."

"I definitely don't want to trade places with you. But you'll do fine. I think Sue is right, having Edward come a couple days later will help."

"I hope so," I sighed.

"What it all boils down to, Bella, is that your father and I want you to be happy. As do Sue and Phil."

"You're handling this awfully well," I commented skeptically. Seriously, her calm demeanor was kind of freaking me out.

"I guess i'm feeling very zen today?" She laughed. "Or maybe it hasn't hit me yet. Either way, I'll adjust."

0-0

It wasn't lying when I said that I felt a ton better after talking to my mom.

Having her support made me feel a lot more confident that maybe my Dad would accept us and possibly, eventually Alice would buckle and at least learn to tolerate our relationship.

That positive line of thinking carried me through to the following Tuesday.

When I had called my dad a few days prior telling him that I wanted to come to Forks for another visit, I could hear the suspicion in his voice.

I was spending the day at Edward's, hanging out with him and the dogs.

He had been amazingly sweet the past week and most days I woke up questioning how I got to this point. How I found him.

Ironically, I guess I would have to thank Alice.

Our physical relationship had pretty much been at a standstill since the first time he touched me the previous week.

I didn't understand why he never wanted me to touch him. I mean, isn't that what all guys want?

I was determined that tonight I would show him, physically, what he meant to me.

Sadly, I wouldn't be able to stay the night with Edward since my dad was picking me up early in the morning, but I could still stay late into the night.

We ate our dinner on the couch while Edward watched baseball.

I had been to plenty of baseball games myself, since both my dad and Jake had been fans, but I couldn't get into the game.

I was just thinking about what I wanted to do.

Edward was oblivious, though. Completely tuned into the television.

I put our empty plates in the kitchen sink and went back to the couch and sidled up to him.

I kissed his cheek then his jaw, nipping it how I had discovered he liked.

Bringing my hand to his inner thigh, I started massaging it, working my way up high to his groin.

I looked up at Edward to find him looking down at me, no longer engrossed in the game.

He gave me a questioning look and I smiled back at him, hopefully coyly.

I straddled his lap and pushed him by the shoulders until he was leaning against the couch.

Edward tried to grab me by my hips, but I quickly grabbed his hands and moved them back to

rest against the couch.

After kissing him heatedly, I slid off his lap to kneel down between his legs.

Chancing a look up at Edward, I saw him looking down at me in complete surprise.

Oh, yes. He was not expecting this.

His expression quickly turned to lust though when I trailed by hands up his denim clad thighs, then finally reaching his zipper.

It was like everything else fell away and it was just me, kneeling in front of him, the sound of me unzipping his jeans echoed in my ears.

Underneath his grey boxer briefs, he was hard.

Hastily, Edward lifted his hips up and slid his hands and boxers down to mid thigh.

I thought I would faint at the first sight of his cock.

It was big, smooth and thick.

It wasn't like I had seen a lot of penises before, but Edward's seemed to put them all to shame.

I tentatively reached out and wrapped my hands around his erection.

Pumping him a couple times, I watched as the head disappeared underneath the foreskin while I mentally prepared myself.

I could do this.

Licking my lips, I leaned down and gave his length an experimental lick from bottom to top. I

looked up at Edward to gauge his reaction.

His face was scrunched up, eyes shut and lips parted.

I took that as a good sign.

Taking the head into my mouth, I started moving up and down over him, jacking off what I couldn't fit into my mouth.

I closed my eyes and got down to business.

After a minute or so of keeping a steady rhythm, I brought my other hand to his lap and began to lightly squeeze and massage his balls.

Edward groaned and uttered a curse.

His breathing picked up and I opened my eyes to see Edward fisting at the couch. When his hips started to jerk and his breathing picked up, I knew he was close.

Then I was faced with the age old question.

Spit, or swallow?

I didn't have time to think though.

"Fuck. I'm gonna come," he groaned.

He thrust his hips up harder once more and stilled, emptying himself in my mouth.

I swallowed all he had to give me.

When he seemed completely spent, I let his cock slip out of my mouth.

Edward grabbed me and pulled me up on the couch next to him.

Cupping my chin, he kissed me.

I didn't expect that at all.

According to Alice and Jacob, guys didn't want to taste themselves.

At all.

"Shit, baby girl. I didn't expect that at all," he said, hugging me to his side.

I rested my head against his shoulder.

"Surprise?"

"Mmm. Yes," he said, pulling his boxers and jeans back up and tucking himself back in.

I leaned forward and grabbed my drink off the coffee table, taking a sip and swishing it around in my mouth.

"So, you still want me to come on Friday?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course. Unless you can't make it or don't want to."

"No, I want to. After all, how bad could it be?"

* * *

><p>See you next time!<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

Pretty much the general consensus is that Alice sucks and Edward uttered the famous last words, setting himself up for doom.

Let's see how Charlie handles Bella's news.

* * *

><p>My dad was definitely suspicious about my sudden interest in going to Forks twice in just as many weeks.<p>

It probably didn't help that I felt myself acting weirdly.

I just hope that he attributed it to him picking me up in the cruiser.

He knew that I hated driving in it, even if I was in the passenger seat.

I was debating when to tell him.

At first, I considered telling him while we were going back to Forks, to give him the most time to accept the news.

But I quickly realized that telling him now wouldn't be a good idea.

I didn't want us to get in a car accident or anything.

Which left me with tonight.

Over dinner would be the best time, when he was eating and I had Sue to help back me up.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and pulled it out, seeing a text message from Edward.

_Good luck! Everything will be okay. Miss you. Can't wait for Saturday.\_

I bit my lip to stop a huge grin from taking over my face.

I had been on cloud nine since I left Edward's house last night.

I really hadn't wanted to go back to my place, but I couldn't run the risk of having my dad show up and me still at Edward's, sleeping.

_Thanks. I need all the luck I can get! _

After reply to his text, I put my phone back in my pocket and looked to my dad, not missing how his head snapped back to focus on the road.

Okay, then.

I let my mind drift back to last night and what I had done to Edward, but that train of thought quickly left me feeling hot and bothered.

Not exactly the best thing to feel while you're stuck in a car with your dad for three hours.

Thankfully, dad started to talk to me about the latest happenings in Forks.

Someone lit a trash can on fire.

Dad thinks it's the Palmer boys doing.

The diner ran out of peaches, so there had been no peach cobbler for almost a week.

Sue had been going to a quilting group to help make a quilt for a fundraising raffle.

Ah, the excitement of small town life.

Eventually, I saw the familiar Welcome To Forks sign and breathed a sigh of relief.

Sue must have heard the car pull up, because just as I got out of the car, she was walking down the front steps of the house and pulling me into a hug.

"It's so good to see you again," she said. Then, whispering "I take it you haven't told your father yet, seeing as he hasn't looked like he's aged ten years."

I shook my head. "Not yet. At dinner."

"Okay." She pulled away from me and looked over at Dad, who was busy pulling my suitcase out of the backseat. "I'll be sure to make something he loves for dinner. Butter him up a bit."

I laughed and followed her inside.

Later that day, around lunchtime, Dad had to go to work for a few hours and I was home alone. Sue had already gone to work at the library shortly after I had gotten there.

I was a big bundle of nervous energy.

I decided to go for a walk to clear my head and get some exercise.

Rolling off my bed to rummage through my dresser, I pulled out an old pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt. I changed quickly, then grabbed my iPhone and debit card before heading out.

Ten minutes into the walk, I was lost in my own head, thinking about how my life had seemed to change in such a short period of time.

First, I had met an awesome guy in the least expected of places. I had put myself out there and something I never thought I would.

Then, I had stood up for myself against Alice. I missed being able to call and talk to her, but I thought that we both needed a little break, maybe. I wanted to prove to her, and myself, that I could handle my own. I was an adult.

The changes may have been subtle or not a big deal to some, but to me they were big.

As I started nearing the little downtown, I felt my stomach rumble. Maybe I would need to stop for some food before I walked back home.

I never made it as far as the intersection, though.

First, I heard an all too familiar rumble of a car.

Then I saw it pulling up to the stoplight.

That beat up old red Rabbit had been the coolest thing ever when Jacob first got it when we were sixteen.

It had taken him almost a year to fix it up to be in driving condition.

I would recognize it from anywhere.

I froze up and panicked.

I didn't think Jacob had seen me yet, but nevertheless I hid behind a huge Redwood tree.

When I heard the engine rev again, I waited for a few moments before peeking around the tree and seeing the tail-end of the car disappearing behind a building.

Rumbling stomach forgotten, I took a deep breath to steady myself.

I needed to get a grip.

Jacob had given me zero indication that he wanted to talk to me or see me.

I needed to let it go.

I took my phone out of my pocket and dialed Edward's number.

I just wanted to hear his voice.

"Hey, baby. I was just thinking about you."

I smiled as soon as I heard his voice. "Hey."

"What's up? You sound off. Did you tell your dad yet?" he asked, concern in his tone.

"No, not yet. I'm going to do it during dinner tonight." I paused, wondering if I should even tell Edward what's wrong.

"Then what's going on?" he asked again.

"It's just..." I sighed. "I saw Jacob."

"Did he do anything?" Edward asked, sounding pissed.

"No, no. It wasn't like that. I just...I saw his car and then I hid," I explained, realizing how juvenile it all sounded.

"You hid," he repeated.

"Yeah," I replied, embarrassed. "I freaked out. I'm pretty positive he didn't see me, though."

"I'm sorry. Do you want me to come sooner? I could try to come out tomorrow."

"No, It's okay. I'm being stupid. I just didn't expect to see him, is all. Kinda shook me up," I told him.

"Do you think he could have known you were going to Forks this week?"

"I don't think so," I replied hesitantly. "Unless my dad mentioned it to his and Billy told him."

"Well, either way. Be careful. What are you going to do now?"

"I was going to grab a bite to eat, but i think I'll just walk back home and eat there."

"Okay. Sounds good. Call me if anything else happens, okay?" he asked.

"I will. I'll also hopefully call you tonight after dinner, hopefully. Depending on how my dad takes the news." I laughed.

After we hung up, I felt better.

I stopped by the convenience store to pick up something to drink, then headed back home.

I was relieved once I got home. I still felt a little on edge, but I was also exhausted, only running on five hours of sleep.

A little nap would do me good, I thought.

However, a little nap turned into a very, very long one.

When I woke up, it was to the smell of food cooking downstairs. Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was almost six.

I sat up and stretched.

My dad would be home any time now.

The food smelled good, but thinking about telling my dad about Edward made my stomach twist.

I was definitely a daddy's girl.

The thought of disappointing him was unappealing.

But he would see how happy Edward made me, right?

Surely that would count in Edward's favor.

I headed downstairs to see Sue standing over the stove, mashing potatoes.

"Need any help?" I asked.

"It's just about done," she said, not turning around. "But you could set the table."

Dad came home just as I finished setting the table.

Luckily, he seemed to be in a pretty good mood as he walked up to Sue and kissed her cheek.

"Smells great," he commented. He peered over her shoulder to see what else she had made. When he noticed it was his favorite meal, he asked if there was a special occasion.

"No special occassion." She smiled.

Once the food was plated, we all sat down to eat.

As good as the food looked and smelled, I could only push the food around on my plate, taking just a few bites of it.

"Something the matter, Bella?" Dad asked, noticing that I had hardly touched my food.

I glanced quickly at Sue, who gave me a reassuring smile, before turning back to Dad.

"Actually, there's something I wanted to tell you," I said slowly.

"I knew it!" he said, throwing his fork down on his plate. "I knew that there had to be a reason for you to come visit so soon. Then when Sue cooked my favorite meal, I knew for sure that something was going on."

I looked down at my lap, trying to work up the courage to tell him.

"Well, come out with it, then," he prodded.

"I met this guy. He's really nice and kind. Smart, funny..." I trailed off, realizing it sounded like I was gushing.

"I figured as much," he grunted.

"What?" I asked, confused. "What do you mean, you figured as much?"

"I heard you on the phone last time you were here. Then today on the drive back, you were all...smiley when you got that text. I'm a cop, Bella. We know things."

"Oh. Okay. I guess there's something else that you should know, though."

"Does he have a record?" Dad asked.

"What? No, no record." At least that I knew of. But still, I doubted it.

"Then how bad could it be?" he asked with a laugh.

How bad could it be? That definitely seemed to be a recurring theme here.

"Just, promise me you won't get mad and yell?" I begged. "And remember, I really like him. I'm really happy."

"I make no promises. But get on with it." He motioned for me to continue.

"Edward is older than me."

"Okay," he said, nodding. "How much older are we talking? A few years? I don't see that as being too much of a problem."

Sue snorted, I snapped my head to her direction, but she quickly put her hand over her mouth, disguising it as a cough.

"Not exactly," I replied. Then added, rushing all my words together. "He'skindofforty."

Dad paused and stared at me, blinking.

I knew he was about to blow a gasket.

"He's WHAT?" He yelled, standing up and almost knocking his chair backward.

"Now, Charlie. Don't have a tantrum. Just sit down and listen to your daughter," Sue demanded.

He turned to Sue and pointed at her, his face firetruck red. "You don't seem shocked at all. You...you knew about this!" he accused.

"I did," she confirmed. "Bella told me last time she was here."

"He's forty, Sue! Forty! He's as old as I am. And Bella, she's just—"

"A twenty-one year old woman who can make her own decisions. She's lived on her own for almost three years now."

"He's too old for her! He could be her father, for god's sake. What does he want with a-a child?"

I sat quietly in my chair, looking back and forth between my dad and Sue.

"I'm right here!" I yelled, interrupting him. "Could you please stop talking about me like I'm not?"

Charlie huffed, but sat back down in his chair after earning another stern look from Sue.

Thank god I had her on my side.

"Edward is a good guy, Dad. I wish you would just sit and listen to me without going off on me first."

"Fine, then. How did you meet...this guy?"

I launched into the story, telling him about how Alice had persuaded me to sign up for Match Finder, of course leaving out the part where we polished off a couple bottles of wine.

Then, I continued on, telling him about our meeting and the connection we had.

It was for sure partly embarrassing, telling my dad all about my feelings, but I thought that if I laid it all (okay, most of it) out on the line, that he would be more understanding.

"But Bella, he's _forty_," Dad reiterated.

"So? Age is just a number. We have things in common. Edward likes me, I like him. It doesn't always have to be so difficult."

"Have you told your mother yet?" he asked smugly. He probably thought that at least Mom would agree with him.

"I did. She was concerned, but she didn't freak out. She trusts me to make my own decisions."

"Hmph. Figures. She married that kid."

I resisted rolling my eyes. That kid? Sure, Phil was closer in age to me than he was to my mom, but he and dad got along. I'd certainly never heard him refer to Phil as 'the kid.'

"If it makes you feel any better, Alice feels quite like you do." I told him about Alice pushing me to join, only to turn on me when she found out his age.

"Alice has always been very strong willed," he commented.

"I know. But that doesn't make it any less hurtful," I pouted, feeling myself well up with tears.

I couldn't take my dad being mad at me, on top of Alice.

"Aww, don't cry, Bella," he begged. "I can't stand the waterworks."

I sniffled.

"Listen, maybe I just jumped the gun a bit. But you really did lay a bombshell on me. I just need time."

"Like...two days time?" I asked hopefully and wiped at my eyes.

"Why two days?" he asked suspiciously.

Sue started to reply before I could. "Well, I just thought that it would be a good idea for Bella's young man to come meet you and see Forks."

"Young man, my ass," he grumbled.

"He'll be coming Friday evening. Or Saturday morning," I informed him, ignoring his last little comment.

"Oh he will, will he? And where will he be staying?"

I didn't have an answer for him. Where would he be saying?

"The guest bedroom," Sue said.

"Right across from Bella's room? Like hell he will be."

"Would you rather have him downstairs on the couch? You know, where there's more privacy than upstairs, just a few steps away from our bedroom?" she pointed out.

"Fine. He can stay in the guest bedroom," he agreed.

"Great." I jumped out of the chair and hugged him. "Thanks, Dad!"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied. "I still don't like it."

"You'll give him a fair chance though, right? I promise you'll like him."

"We'll see," he conceded.

I sighed, but thanked him anyways. I knew it was the best I could get out of him.

"I'm going to go call him!"

Dad waved me away as I headed back upstairs to my phone.

0-0

"Hey, Bella," Edward greeted me when he answered the phone.

"I told him," I said, unable to keep the excitement out of my voice.

"I take it went well?" he laughed.

"It did. Well, sorta. At first I thought he was going to like...go crazy. I mean, his face got _really _red. But luckily Sue was able to help calm him down."

"That's good."

"Yeah," I agreed. "So, when will you be coming?"

"Eager, are we?" he asked with a laugh. "I'll be coming early Saturday morning."

"Okay, great." Despite the circumstances, I felt myself grow really excited to have Edward come to Forks.

"By the way, do you know of any hotels or anything I could stay at?"

"Hotel Swan?" I joked. "My dad said that you could stay at the house."

"He did, did he?" Edward sounded disbelieving.

"Well...yes? It's totally fine, though. We have a spare bedroom my step brother stays in when he's here."

"Sounds good, then. I can't wait to see where you lived. Does your dad have any embarrassing pictures of you?" He sounded way too enthusiastic about the possibility of embarrassing pics.

"No, I don't think so. Now my mom, on the other hand." Edward knew that I had already told my mom about him.

In fact, my mom had called me more frequently since that phone call.

She asked a lot of questions about Edward and I knew that she really wanted to meet him.

At the moment, it didn't seem too terrible that she lived across the country. At least she couldn't show up unexpectedly.

0-0

The next couple of day went by quickly.

My dad was still leery of Edward, but I understood.

He saw me get hurt when I was with Jacob, someone he trusted and considered to be a son.

Plus, I think my dad still saw me as a little girl.

Edward had the odds stacked against him.

I just hoped that Dad would give him a fair chance.

I set my alarm clock to go off early, so I could get ready in time for Edward to arrive.

It was a good thing that Edward would be getting here while Sue and Dad were both at work.

Edward texted me, letting me know he would be another fifteen minutes.

I went downstairs and turned on the morning news, hoping to pass the time.

When I heard a car pull up, I jumped off the couch and went to the window, seeing the familiar Range Rover.

I didn't bother trying to play cool.

I really missed Edward.

I was out of the house and running to Edward before I could stop myself.

When I reached him, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him.

"I'm so glad you're here!"

* * *

><p>Sorry the actual meeting isn't in this chapter. I figured you guys would rather have a weekly update instead of waiting 2 weeks.<p>

I updated the blog. There's some new pics and a new banner that Mina Rivera made for me.

Come say hi to me on twitter! It get's lonely over there sometimes. I'm HappyMess89 on it.

Don't forget to leave a review, letting me know what you think and you'll get a little epov as a thanks!

See you next time!


	12. Chapter 12

See you at the bottom!

* * *

><p>I ushered Edward into the house before giving the nosy neighbors anything to gossip about.<p>

He didn't keep his hands off of me as he followed me in, keeping one arm wrapped around my shoulders.

"Where's your stuff?" I asked.

"Oh. It's in the car. I wasn't sure if it was still okay to stay here or not," Edward replied, looking around the living room.

I suddenly felt awkward. Having him here, in my house.

It wasn't a very impressive house. My dad had lived alone for many years. The house still reflected his former bachelor lifestyle.

From what Edward told me about his family, I knew that he came from money.

Plus, he had his own money.

I mean, he drove a Range Rover, for goodness sake.

The kitchen cabinets were still the same faded yellow color my dad had painted them before my mom left with me.

Most of the furniture in the house was probably as old as I was.

I didn't think that Edward was materialistic, by far, but still.

I'd hate for him to see how out of his league I was.

Those fears were all squashed down though when Edward turned to me and smiled.

"Are those pictures of you?" he asked, pointing to the mantle.

Crap. I didn't even think about removing any embarrassing photographs that were scattered around the house.

"Maybe," I replied shyly.

He walked over to the mantle and looked at the pictures.

"You were a cute kid," he commented, looking at a pic of my fifth grade graduation.

I rolled my eyes. Right. I was a super cute kid with frizzy hair and crooked teeth.

"So, Sue should be home around 2 and then my dad will get home at 6," I said, changing the subject.

"Okay." He nodded. "I'm gonna go get my bag, then. I'll be right back."

While Edward was outside, I went to the kitchen, getting myself a glass of water.

"Do you want something to drink?" I called out to Edward when I heard him coming back in.

"No thanks," he replied, startling me by being right behind me.

"I scared you?" he teased, wrapping his arms around me from behind.

"Mmm," was all I could reply with. I was too distracted by his lips on my neck to think anything else.

He chuckled, his warm breath tickling me.

"L-let me take you upstairs."

"What?" he said. pulling away from me.

"Oh. Shit. No. Not like that. I mean, let me show you where you'll be staying," I said with a nervous laugh.

"Okay," he said, understanding. "Because as much as I would like to take you _upstairs,_ I'm not sure I trust that your dad won't come home early and shoot me."

"Right. Charlie won't shoot you, promise."

"Are you sure about that?" he joked. "I drove past miles and miles of woods. I think he could bury my body and no one would be the wiser."

"Well, just be on your best behavior. My dad may not like you at first, but he'll warm to you."

I led Edward up the stairs to where he would be sleeping.

"This is you," I said, pushing the door open.

He walked in and looked around, setting his duffle bag down on the bed. "I like it."

"This is me." I walked across the hall to my bedroom door, which was literally right across from his.

"It's very...pink," Edward commented. "I didn't know it was your favorite color."

"When I moved to Forks, Dad surprised me by redoing my room. I'm not sure who told him to paint it pink." I shrugged. "I got used to it though. My favorite is blue, by the way. Or green. It depends."

"On what?" Edward asked, stepping closer to me.

I walked backwards, further into my room. "My mood."

He leaned down and kissed me sweetly on the lips. "I like blue too."

I stood up on my tiptoes, kissing him back.

When Edward pulled away, I was left feeling breathless.

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Um, fool around?" I suggested stupidly, still in a daze.

He laughed. "You're dangerous, little girl. But maybe we should go downstairs. Away from temptation."

"Oh, okay." I nodded, knowing he was right. "Why don't we go for a drive? I could show you around."

We went downstairs to his car. I almost walked into him when he suddenly stopped short.

"You want to drive?" he asked, turning to face me and dangling the keys in my face.

"You're letting me drive the Range Rover?" I asked incredulously.

He shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Um, maybe because it's so pretty and shiny?" I pointed my thumb in the direction of my old Chevy. "I'm used to driving that."

"As...nice as your car is, I think I'd feel safer if we took mine. C'mon. You drive. You're the tour guide," he teased.

I huffed and snatched the keys from him.

"Okay, but if something happens to the car, you can't blame me," I warned.

"Deal."

I really didn't think the tour through very thoroughly. Forks wasn't that big. I drove him past all the shops. The little library where Sue worked. My high school. The police station.

"That's pretty much it," I said, a mere twenty minutes after we had left the house.

"It's not really how I imagined it." Edward commented. We pulled into the parking lot of the deli to grab something for lunch.

"It's not?" I asked.

"No. I thought that it would be smaller. You made it sound like just a speck of a town."

I laughed. "I think it's small. Compared to Seattle, it is. And Chicago."

After getting sandwiches, I suggested we go to Bogachiel State Park. After finding a picnic table and eating, we walked around for a little while.

"Do you want to head back now?" I asked, checking my phone for the time. "Sue should be back soon."

Edward agreed, so we made our way back to the car.

Even though I was driving, I couldn't stop from fidgeting in my seat, nervously drumming my fingers against the steering wheel.

Edward noticed and grabbed one of my hands, taking it in his own and kissing the back of it.

"Don't be so nervous," he said, settling my hand between us and rubbing the back of it with his thumb. "It'll be fine."

"I know," I nodded. "Sue will be totally cool with it. She can't wait to meet you."

"Then why the nerves?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm just preparing myself for my dad? I know it'll be okay. I just really want you two to get along. It's important to me."

"We'll get along, Bella. Tell me about him. Maybe we can find some common ground."

"What, besides being the same age?" I joked.

"Yeah." Edward rolled his eyes. "We can trade war stories and the draft."

"Shut up," I said, pulling my hand out of his grasp and slapping his chest with it. "You're not that old."

"Close enough," he joked.

"Anyway," I continued. "Dad's kind of a...man's man?"

"Meaning?" Edward asked, confused.

"Fishing, sports, guns,...I don't know. Manly things."

"Are you saying I'm not manly?" he asked.

I looked over at him to see him pouting.

"Well, when was the last time you went fishing?"

"Never."

"Shot a gun?"

He paused. "Never."

"Great!" I said with fake enthusiasm. "This will go well."

"I like sports," he offered.

"What teams?"

"Cubs, Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks," he listed. "I'm from Chicago. They're my teams."

"Okay. Well...just try to avoid sports talk. Dad is a diehard Seattle fan. Saying you like anything other than the Mariners or Seahawks would be like signing a death warrant," I said seriously.

"Noted."

When I pulled up to the house, I saw that Sue's car was already there.

"Sue's here. Are you ready?" I asked, unbuckling the seat belt.

"Sure."

Once we were out of the car, Edward followed me up to the house.

"Sue? You here?" I called out.

"In the kitchen!"

"Come on. Something smells good. She might be making cookies." I grabbed Edward's hand and pulled him with me through the house.

Sure enough, she was stirring cookie dough.

"You must be Edward!" Sue said.

"Yes, it's nice to meet you, Mrs. Swan," Edward said, holding his hand out to her.

"Nonsense," she replied, wiping her hands on a towel and then bypassing Edward's extended hand to hug him. "It's Sue. We're practically the same age, Edward. No need for such formalities."

Edward seemed to visibly relax at her words and hugged her back.

"Okay, Sue." Edward laughed, pulling back.

"You came back just in time. I was just putting the cookies in the oven and then was going to run to the store to get something for dinner. You don't have any allergies or preferences, do you?"

"No," Edward shook his head. "I never say no to a homecooked meal. I'm not much of a chef, myself."

"Oh? Has Bella cooked for you yet? She's a pretty awesome cook herself," Sue bragged.

"She is, is she?" Edward asked, turning to me. "I didn't know you could cook."

"Sue's exaggerating," I said, glaring at her.

"Bella's being modest," she retorted.

0-0

Edward and Sue kept talking. At first, I felt myself getting left out and jealousy started to creep in.

It was ridiculous, really. Sue was really pretty and clearly just as taken by Edward as I was.

I loved that they were getting along. It would help for when Dad got home.

I spaced out, daydreaming, but was brought back to reality when there was a lull in the conversation and Edward wrapped his arm around my waist.

"I'm going to go to the restroom," he said, leaning toward me. "Be right back."

I nodded and watched as he left the kitchen.

Once he was out of sight, I looked to Sue to see that she had been watching him as well.

"Oh, my god. Bella!" she exclaimed, walking around the center island to me. "You never mentioned he was so handsome! Or charming!"

"He is, isn't he?" I couldn't help but smile.

"His eyes are so pretty, too. So green!"

"Geez, Sue. Are you sure you don't want him for yourself?"

Sue looked embarrassed.

"Did I miss anything?" Edward asked, coming back into the kitchen.

I looked at Sue, who looked at me, her face still showing her embarrassment.

I couldn't hold back the laughter that overtook me.

When Sue burst into laughter as well, Edward looked at us like we had grown two heads.

0-0

Shortly after the cookies were done, Sue left for the grocery store, leaving Edward and I alone again once more.

"Do you have any more pictures?" Edward asked. We were sitting on the couch at opposite ends. My feet in his lap.

"Umm...let see." I got up and walked over to the bookcase, looking through some of the albums there. I grabbed a random one and brought it back to the couch.

"Here," I said, handing Edward the book and sitting down next to him.

When he opened it, I saw it was pictures of my senior year of high school.

Great.

Edward flipped through the pages, asking me about some of the pictures.

"Prom?" he asked, pointing at a picture of Mike and me.

"Yup." I nodded. "That's my ex, Mike. We actually broke up the next week."

After Mike and I had broken up, I had scrutinized all the pictures from Prom. Checking to see if he had looked happy in them. If there was any indication that he was going to break up with me in just a few short days.

The memory of Prom was definitely not a positive one.

When Edward flipped the page, I saw pics of graduation.

"That's your mom?" he asked, pointing to one of the pictures where she was standing next to me.

"Yeah. I think that was one of the only times she came back to Forks willingly."

"Who's that?" he asked, looking at the pic below the one of my mom and me.

"That's Jacob," I said quietly. It was picture of both of us in our cap and gowns. Mine bee yellow and his a royal blue.

"He has a ponytail," Edward pointed out. "Really, Bella?"

"Hey. The ponytail was his thing. Besides, he cut it the next week for summer. It was short. Shorter than yours."

"Kid looks like a smug little punk."

I turned to Edward. "You know, you almost sound jealous."

"Jealous?" he asked. "Of what? Some punk little eighteen year old with a ponytail? No way."

"Hmm," I said, eyeing him skeptically. "Sure about that?"

Just as Edward was about to respond, I heard a car pulling up.

One that wasn't Sue's, but an all too familiar engine.

I leapt up off the couch and ran to the window to peek out the curtain.

"Shit. My dad's home early!" I yelled.

"What?" Edward asked, confused.

"He wasn't supposed to get home for another few hours. He's ambushing us. Ambushing!"

"Bella." He stood up and walked over to me, putting his arms around me. "Calm down."

"Okay." I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I'm calm. This is fine. Ugh. Why isn't Sue here?"

I didn't have any more time to worry though, because the front door opened.

"Bells?" Dad said looking at me.

"Hi, Dad," I said, hoping that my smile came off as sincere and not as nervous as I felt.

His eyes slid to Edward, as if he had just noticed that he was standing right behind me.

"Who's this?" he asked, like he didn't already know.

I clasped Edward's hand in mine and walked up to my dad. Releasing Edward's hand, I motioned back and forth between them.

"Dad, this is Edward. Edward, this is my dad."

"It's good to meet you, Mr. Swan," Edward said, holding his hand out for my dad to shake.

"_Chief_ Swan," he corrected, still not taking Edward's outstretched hand.

"Dad!" I hissed, nudging him.

He still ignored me though, instead turning around.

"I'm just going to take off my gun belt. You know, where a _police chief_ keeps his_ gun._"

I groaned, mortified at my dad's behavior. I looked at Edward, who just gave me a reassuring smile in return.

"Why don't we all go to the kitchen to talk?" Dad asked, looking at me.

I nodded and walked ahead of Dad and Edward.

"Take a seat," Dad said, motioning for Edward to sit down across from him.

"Could you get me a beer, Bella?" Dad asked.

I nodded. "Edward, you want one?"

"Um, yeah. That would be great," he replied.

Heading to the fridge, I grabbed three of Dad's beers, Rainier, and brought them back to the table to sit down.

"You're drinking?" Dad asked, noticing that I had brought back three.

"It's just a beer, Dad. I'm twenty-one."

He made a disapproving noise and turned to Edward. "You a drinker?"

Edward, who had just opened his beer, looked surprised.

"Occasionally. I don't go out to bars every weekend or anything like that," he said.

"So, you stay home and drink then?" Dad shot back.

"Dad!" I yelled.

"Um. No. I may have a drink with dinner sometimes, but I'm far from a heavy drinker," he explained.

"Yeah, Dad. Unlike you and your two-a-day habit," I said, hinting at my dad to stop badgering Edward.

"Hmph," he grunted, taking a drink of his beer.

The silence that followed was awkward. I tried to think of something, anything to say to start a conversation, but I couldn't.

"So, I took Edward around town today. He even trusted me to drive his car," I joked.

"That's some fancy car, you got there," Dad said, turning to Edward.

"Thanks," Edward said. "I just got it earlier this year."

"Mighty expensive looking. What is it that you do?" he asked.

I couldn't believe my Dad. Actually, I could. I glanced nervously at the clock. Where was Sue?

"I'm a freelance writer. I get hired to write whatever the employer is looking for. I work from home, mostly, but sometimes I do have to go out of town."

"It must be a good paying job if you can afford that car," Dad pointed out.

I groaned and dropped my head to the table. "Dad, seriously?"

"What?" he asked, pretending to be clueless. "I'm just seeing if he can take care of himself. It's important."

"It's okay, Bella," Edward said, giving me a reassuring smile. He then turned to my Dad. "It's not the best paying job in the world, but I love what I do and it pays the bills. Aside from my car, I don't live extravagantly. Also, when my grandparents died, they left me with a generous inheritance. I can provide for myself. I can also provide for Bella, but to my understanding, she's not the type to want to be taken care of. She's independent."

That shut my dad up. I couldn't believe that Edward would outrightly say that.

From the look on my dad's face, he couldn't believe it either.

"Well, um. That's good. Good to know," he replied, fumbling over his words.

I smiled at Edward and grabbed his hand from under the table, giving it a squeeze.

We sat in silence, this time Dad was looking like a scolded puppy.

I guess we had all been lost in our thoughts, because the front door swinging open and slamming into the wall startled us all.

"Charlie Swan! You are in so much trouble!" Sue yelled.

"Shit," he muttered under his breath, taking a big swig of his drink.

Sue came storming in the kitchen, grocery bags in hand. She set them down on the counter and then wheeled around to face Dad, hands on her hips.

"I can't believe you did that!" She yelled. "Wait. Yes, I can believe you did that."

"Sue—" he began.

"I called to ask you if you wanted anything from the store. You knew that I wasn't going to be home and that Edward and Bella were here. You deliberately left work early to interrogate them before I got home!"

"It wasn't like that," Dad defended. "I was simply able to come home early. It had nothing to do with you being gone."

"I don't buy that for a minute," she retorted. "I know you too well. Edward is a nice boy."

"He's not a boy," he grumbled. "He's my age."

"Yes," she agreed. "And right now he's acting more mature than you are."

I turned to Edward momentarily drowning out Dad and Sue's bickering. "It's not too late to escape, you know. I'm sorry Dad's being like this."

"Baby, don't worry. It's fine. Nothing that I didn't expect," he reassured me, resting his arm on the back of my chair and rubbing my neck.

"Thanks for putting up with it, though. Seriously," I said, leaning back into his touch.

"See, Charlie!" Sue said, startling me. "Look at how cute they are together. Look at them!"

It was then that I realized that Edward and I had pushed our chairs so close together that our thighs were touching. The way we were leaning together looked intimate; like we were cuddling.

Dad turned to look at us and just grunted in response.

I felt bad, feeling like I was throwing my relationship in Dad's face when he wasn't as accepting of it as Sue was.

"Let's let the kids have some time alone. You can help with cooking," she said, giving Dad a look that left no room for discussion.

I wanted to laugh at how Sue called Edward a kid. It wasn't a condescending way, but the same way she would call me a kid. It made me relax and feel better.

Edward and I excused ourselves and left the kitchen to go to the living room.

"Do you want to go rent a movie and get snacks for later? Dad and Sue go to bed pretty early."

"Sounds good," he shrugged.

0-0

After picking up a couple movies from the rental place, Edward and I walked back home to find dinner was almost ready.

The dinner was undoubtedly tense, even though Sue tried to keep it light.

After dinner, though, Dad finally spoke to Edward.

"I'm gonna need to talk to you, Edward," he said. "Alone."

Sue and I both looked at each other, but she shrugged.

"Dad?"

"It's okay, Bella. I've been expecting a talk," Edward said, touching my arm. He stood up. "I'm ready now if you are, Chief Swan."

"Chief Swan?" Sue laughed, turning to Charlie. "Did you really make Edward call you that?"

Dad grumbled something unintelligibly.

While Edward had left with my dad to the front porch, I helped Sue with the dishes and putting leftovers away.

"Do you think he's okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Who? Your dad?"

"No." I shook my head. "Edward."

"He'll be fine." Sue laughed.

It didn't stop me from worrying, though.

Twenty minutes. Dad and Edward came back in.

I gave Edward a look, seeing if he was okay. Edward just smiled in return.

"Why don't we go upstairs now?" Sue suggested to Dad. "I think they wanted to watch a movie."

Dad nodded his head and hugged me goodnight. "No funny business," he muttered.

"Okay, okay." I laughed, feeling my face heat up.

Once they were upstairs, I set up the movie while Edward situated himself on the couch.

"So, what did Dad talk to you about?" I asked casually, sitting down next to Edward.

"Meh," he shrugged noncommittally. "Guy stuff."

"Guy stuff?" I repeated, skeptically.

"Yeah, baby. Just guy stuff. Everything's okay." He pulled me closer to him and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Oookay."

"Shh. The movies starting. I wanted to see this one," he murmured, kissing my hair.

I sighed, but relaxed in his arms.

As long as he said everything was okay, I trusted him.

* * *

><p>So, there was part one of the meeting. Next chapter will finish up the Forks visit and then they'll get back to Seattle.<p>

Added a pic of Sue to the blog.

Another thing. Go join the Forbidden Group on Facebook! It's fun. We talk about...forbidden fics and stuff like that. I don't know. You'll like it. Trust me. on(.)fb(.)me/Kns6Ab Just remove the parenthesis. There's also a c2 of forbidden themed fics. bit(.)ly/I3g3Tx

Last chapter MPM got to 1,000 reviews! Thanks so, so much guys.

I think that's it. Don't forget to review! I'm thinking a little bit of Charlie's talk with Edward for the EPOV. Sound good?


	13. Chapter 13

The rest of the weekend was...good.

No matter how much I pried, Edward wouldn't tell me what he and my dad talked about out on the porch that first night.

Neither would my dad. He replied with the same line Edward continued to tell me. "Just guy stuff."

Whatever it was they talked about, they seemed to come to some sort of agreement.

I didn't see them becoming best friends anytime soon, but my dad was polite and cordial. Almost friendly.

Before we left Sunday evening, Sue cooked a huge meal for us and insisted that Edward come back to visit soon. The way she said it made it sound like having me come along as well was optional.

Needless to say, she was still just as taken with Edward as she was with him when they first met.

On the way back to Seattle, I found myself reflecting over the weekend and the past month with Edward.

I knew that I was falling. Hard.

There was no way to deny it, if I didn't already love Edward, I was well on my way to that point.

The idea both scared and exhilarated me.

I felt so comfortable with Edward. We got along so well and we just...clicked.

The age difference was quickly going further and further to the back of my mind.

If it wasn't for my dad and some of the questioning looks we got when we went into town, it probably wouldn't cross my mind at all.

Seattle was different from Forks though, in that it was more accepting of us. In Seattle, when we went out, we rarely got disapproving looks from strangers.

Forks suffered from that small town mentality that I had been glad to escape after graduation.

I sighed and looked out the window of the car at the passing scenery.

"What is it?" Edward asked.

"Nothing." I shrugged. "Just thinking about the weekend."

He reached over and grabbed my hand, bringing it up to his mouth to kiss the back of it.

"I had a good weekend."

"You did?" I asked. I was still worried about how my dad and Edward got along.

He looked over at me and laughed. "You're still pouting over me not telling you what happened, aren't you?"

"No..." I lied, looking away.

"I had a lot of fun, baby. I loved seeing where you grew up."

As we got closer to Seattle, I realized that I wasn't ready to end the weekend yet.

"Hey, do you uh...do you want to like...sleep over?" I asked him. I mentally slapped myself for sounding like such a bumbling idiot.

The real reason I was so nervous though, was because I felt ready to take our relationship further.

Edward had been sweet and patient with me, never pushing me for more.

I wasn't sure what exactly was stopping me from having sex with him. I knew Edward cared for me and wouldn't hurt me. I mean, it wasn't even my first time.

I guess it all boiled down to my insecurities.

While I wasn't a virgin, I also wasn't very experienced.

Losing my virginity to Mike had been brief and painful.

He dumped me a few days after we had sex and for the longest time I thought that he broke up with me because I was bad at sex.

Those insecurities still lingered even after I started going out with Jacob.

He always insisted that sex between us was good, but was he lying?

I had shared my worries with him about Mike after we had broken up and Jacob had told me that couldn't have been the reason.

Maybe he had just been sparing my feelings?

0-0

"Bella? You in there?" Edward asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry. I'm a little spacey, I guess. So can you stay?"

"I really wish I could, but my parents are expecting me to come get the dogs from them," he explained apologetically.

"Oh. That's totally cool. I understand," I replied, trying to not let disappointment slip into my tone.

"What if we go get my dogs, then you can come spend the night with me?" he suggested.

"That sounds good."

Edward continued to drive.

Constant greenery and forest gave way to suburbs. Large, expensive looking houses were soon visible.

When he turned to go down the driveway of one of the large, expensive looking houses, I tried to not show my shock.

"It's just a house, Bella," he said. "The one I grew up in was much smaller. When my brother and

I moved out here, my parents did too. I suspect they bought such a large house because my mother wants it filled with lots of grandchildren."

"Lots?" I asked, still taking in the size of the house.

Edward nodded. "I believe she once mentioned something about having enough spare bedrooms for ten grandchildren.."

He looked over at me and laughed at my horrified expression.

"Rosalie and Emmett have always wanted a soccer team of kids. Things just haven't worked out like that for them."

"I'll wait here," I told Edward once he parked.

I wasn't ready right that moment for an impromptu meeting.

"Okay." he leaned over and kissed my cheek before getting out of the car.

Ten minutes later, he came out with Lulu and Chester.

After loading them back into the car, we were back on the road.

It was around eight when we got back to Edwards.

"You hungry? I could make us something really quick."

"No thanks. Maybe later though. Is it okay if I use your shower?"

"Of course." Edward walked up to me and wrapped his arms low around my waist, then placed a kiss at the base of my neck. "What's mine is yours."

I shivered at his touch. I wanted him right then and there, but I didn't want to rush things. There was always time for that later.

"I'll be right back."

After I had showered and changed, I found Edward in the backyard with the dogs.

"Hey," I greeted, sitting down next to them.

The dogs bounded up to me, but Edward called them off. Instead of jumping on me, they laid down at our feet.

"This is nice," I commented, leaning my head on his shoulder.

"It is," he agreed.

I tilted my head up to look at him.

He was so handsome.

It wasn't just his looks though, it was his personality. His heart.

He was kind, gentle, understanding, smart, funny.

Everything about him seemed too good to be true.

Best of all, he was mine.

"What is it?" Edward asked, turning his head to look at me.

"You." I smiled. "Let's go to your bedroom."

"What?" he asked, looking surprised.

"I want you, Edward. Now. I don't want to wait anymore."

"You're sure?"

"Yes!" I laughed. "C'mon, before I change my mind."

Edward stood quickly and then held out his hand to help me stand.

In one swift, sudden movement, he picked me up in his arms and carried me back inside to his bedroom, leaving the dogs in the backyard.

I giggled when he tossed me down on the bed.

He quickly took off his shoes and socks and climbed on the bed after me.

I laid down on my back, my head against the pillows and pulled him on top of me.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered, studying my face.

I blushed and shut my eyes.

They stayed shut as I felt his warm breath on my face, then felt his lips on mine.

His lips didn't linger on mine though as he began kissing his way down my neck.

I groaned and tilted my head as he kissed a particularly sensitive spot.

When he reached the neckline of my shirt, he brought one of his hands down to the bottom of it and tugged it upward. Taking the hint, I quickly rid myself of my t-shirt.

"Fuck, baby," Edward groaned. "No bra?"

I shook my head.

He wasted no time kissing down my chest to my breasts.

I held my breath in anticipation as he took one of my nipples in his mouth, sucking on gently.

When he gently bit it, I let out a squeak.

"You like that?"

"Yeah," I replied in a breathless voice.

I tried rubbing my thighs together as Edward kissed across the valley between my breasts to the other.

"Please," I whined.

I didn't know what I was asking for.

More? Less?

Edward seemed to know just what I needed though, because he sat up on his knees and pulled his own shirt off.

"Take your shorts off," he instructed.

He watched me as I took off my shorts and slid them down my legs, then took them once they were around my ankles, tossing them onto the floor.

"What about you?" I asked shyly, looking at his jeans. I could easily see the telltale outline of his erection behind the denim.

He smiled devilishly at me and tugged his jeans, along with his boxers, down his hips until they pooled at his feet.

While he stepped out of them, I couldn't keep my eyes off of his body.

The light of the bedroom was dim, but I could see the lines of his chest and the V that pointed toward his erection.

Edward wordlessly turned around and walked, completely naked, over to his dresser.

I licked my lips at the sight of the dimples on his lower back.

He had turned me into some sort of wanton hussy.

All the insecurities I had in my head earlier had vanished, leaving me to only think about Edward

and the pure want I felt.

And right then, all I wanted was for him to...mount me.

I giggled at the thought, causing Edward to turn around.

"Are you laughing at my ass?"

"No!" I shook my head. "I was just thinking. What are you doing? Come back to bed."

He held up his hand, waving a foil packet.

"Um. We don't really need that. I'm covered. Unless you want to use one. I'm clean." The

conversation probably should have taken place earlier. Before Edward was naked.

"You sure?" He asked. "I'm good to go as well."

"Yeah. I want to feel you. No barriers," I told him.

Edward tossed the condom onto the top of the dresser and walked over to me.

He got onto the bed and rolled over on top of me.

Bringing his right hand down my body, his fingers found my clit and then moved lower.

I bit my lip, suppressing a moan. My body was hyper aware and sensitive.

Lifting my hips up, I pulled my underwear down until Edward pulled them off the rest of the way.

I felt completely vulnerable and open, yet so, so safe.

Everything felt right.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

I nodded, pulling my knees up so they were bent.

"Wrap them around my waist," Edward said, tapping my thigh.

I did as he said, then wrapped my arms around his neck.

I felt Edward's hand between our bodies and tried to relax my body as I felt him start to press against my opening.

My eyes fluttered shut and my nails dug into his back as Edward eased himself slowly into me.

Once he was buried to the hilt, I couldn't help but notice how full I felt.

Complete.

"Shit, baby," Edward groaned, dropping his head onto my shoulder. "You're tight. You feel so good."

He set a steady pace.

After a couple minutes, he surprised me by flipping us over so I was on top.

I paused, embarrassed. I'd never done it that way before. "Um, I don't know what to do."

"Just move like this," he said, guiding me by my hips.

I followed his lead, finding out quickly that my clit would rub against his pelvic bone with each forward thrust.

I shut my eyes and lost myself in the sensations.

Edwards hands had left my hips and were running up and down my sides to my breasts.

When he pinched my nipple, my eyes flew open.

"You want me to touch you?"

"Mmhmm," I moaned.

His free hand went to where we were joined and he began to rub my clit.

As my movements grew more erratic, so did that of his hand.

"Are you close?" he panted.

I nodded fervently.

Edward wrapped one hand around my waist and sat up so we were chest to chest, his other hand never leaving my clit.

My orgasm hit me suddenly and strongly.

I moaned and faltered my movements.

"I'm close," Edward groaned and he helped me ride out my orgasm.

I continued to thrust again, feeling Edward arch his hips up underneath me.

He groaned again and stilled. I could feel him emptying into me.

He collapsed backward on the bed and covered his eyes with his forearm.

I was still sitting on top of him with him inside me.

Wanting to clean up, I climbed off of him and walked quickly to the bathroom.

After I was done, I went back into the bedroom and got in bed, under the covers where Edward now was.

I thought Edward might have fallen asleep until he rolled over onto his side to face me.

"Are you tired?"

I was about to tell him no, but a traitorous yawn escaped.

"I'll take that as a yes. Let's sleep. We can get up early and go out for breakfast," he suggested.

"Or we can have a repeat of tonight," I replied sleepily.

He chuckled. "That too."

"Thank you for tonight."

I felt Edward place a kiss to my shoulder. "I should be thanking you. It was amazing."

"It was," I agreed.

Laying there in Edward's arms, I realized that I wasn't falling hard for Edward.

I was already there.


	14. Chapter 14

Don't forget to read the A/N at the bottom!

* * *

><p>Waking up next to Edward the next morning was decidedly better than the first time I had.<p>

For one, Edward had let the dogs sleep outside in their dog houses, so there weren't any large, furry bodies to wake up next to.

Second, Edward was naked, and the sheet had bunched down to around the curve of his ass.

Seeing him naked brought back a flood of memories of the previous night.

"Are you done staring at my ass?" he asked.

My cheeks flushed. "I wasn't staring at your ass!"

"Liar," he mumbled, rolling over to face me.

"You don't know that. You were asleep."

"Yeah. And I could feel your eyes on my ass. It woke me up."

"Shut up!" I laughed, playfully shoving him.

Edward rolled over until he was on top of me.

"Just admit it," he said, dipping his head to kiss along my neck.

"Admit what?" I asked in a breathy voice. His kisses left me needing more.

"You were staring at my ass."

I let out a squeal when he nipped at the base of my neck.

"Yes! Okay. I was staring!" I giggled.

"Damn right," he murmured.

Edward shifted his body so his legs were between mine. Then I felt him, hot and hard against my thigh.

"Oh," I gasped.

Apparently, we wouldn't be leaving the bed anytime soon.

0-0

The week passed by quickly.

Edward was busy working.

I also had work a few of the days and the days I didn't, I spent lazing around the house, bored out of my mind.

At one point, I even reached for my phone to call Alice, but quickly caught myself.

Wednesday, I did call my co-worker, Angela and we met for lunch on campus.

She was in a talkative mood, excited about the upcoming weekend since her and her boyfriend, Ben, were going away for the weekend.

Even though Edward was busy, we still texted and talked daily and on Friday, we had a date.

"So, I was thinking," he said. We were eating dinner at a little Japanese place a few blocks from my house.

"That's dangerous," I joked.

"How would you like to come to dinner at my parents house with me on Sunday?" He eyed me carefully, gauging my reaction.

I set my chopsticks down and looked at him.

Realistically, this was the natural progression.

We'd been dating, had sex, He had met my Dad and Sue.

Plus, there had been my post-coital revelation, which I still hadn't let myself dwell on too much, instead shoving it to the back of my mind.

I saw that Edward was looking at me hopefully.

"Okay. Yeah. Dinner at your parents sounds good."

Edward smiled at me, looking relieved.

"Great. My brother and his wife will be there as well."

I nodded, expecting that. "I'm looking forward to it."

By early Sunday afternoon, I was in a near state of panic.

I didn't know what to wear.

Edward had told me casual, but I didn't want to show up too casual.

I found myself wishing that I could call Alice to help me get ready.

That was definitely not an option though.

I knew I could have called Angela, but she was off on her romantic weekend getaway.

After tearing my closet apart, I settled on a blue dress and brown sandals.

Wanting to settle my nerves, I poured myself a generous glass of white wine and sat on the couch, waiting for Edward.

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

"Hey, you look beautiful," Edward greeted, stepping into my apartment and pulling me into a kiss.

"Thanks." I eyed him appreciatively. He was wearing jeans and a dark green button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows. "You do too. Handsome, I mean."

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

I nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be."

0-0

"Stop fidgeting! You're distracting my driving," Edward said jokingly.

We were in his car, driving up to his parents. As the scenery started getting familiar, I realized that we were just minutes away from his parents.

"I can't help it. I'm a nervous fidgeter."

Edward sighed. "My parents will love you. Trust me. They'll see how happy I am and they'll have no other choice."

I felt myself melting at his words. "You're happy?"

"Very."

When we pulled up in front of his parents house and parked, I took a few deep, calming breaths before getting out of the car.

Edward took my hand in his and lead me up the front steps to the door, opening it.

"Mom?" he called out. "We're here!"

"Coming!" I heard a feminine voice call, followed by the clicking of heels on hardwood floor.

"Edward, hello!" An older woman, not much taller than me, with rich caramel hair and wearing jeans and a blouse turned the corner.

Edward released my hand and bent down to hug the woman, who I assumed was his mother.

Releasing her and straightening back up, he put his hand on my lower back. "Mom, this is Bella. Bella, my mother Esme."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Cullen," I said, holding my hand out to her.

"Oh, nonsense. We aren't formal around here," his mom replied, bypassing my hand and pulling me into a hug like she had her son. "Please, call me Esme."

"Thank you, Esme." I smiled at her.

"Is Edward here?" Another voice asked from the opposite direction Esme had came.

I resisted letting my jaw drop as I saw the man that had spoken.

He was hot.

Not as hot as Edward, but still.

If his dad was any indicator of what Edward would look like in another twenty years, I had nothing to worry about.

"Hey, son," he greeted Edward. Then turning to me he said, "oh, you must be Bella."

"This is my husband, Carlisle," Esme said. "Emmett and Rosalie are in the kitchen. The dinner is just about done, so you two are right on time."

Edward kept his hand on my lower back as I followed them to the kitchen.

"Stop checking out my dad," Edward whispered, bending his head down to my ear.

"I am not!" I whispered back.

Edward just chuckled in response. "Sure, sure."

Sitting next to each other at the dining room table were two more ridiculously attractive people.

"Bella, this is my brother, Emmett and his wife Rosalie," Edward said, motioning to the couple.

Emmett stood up from the chair and reached over to shake my hand. "Nice meeting you."

"You too."

Where Edward was tall and lanky, Emmett was tall and buff.

Really buff.

I turned to look at Rosalie, who made no move to stand or shake my hand. "Hello."

"Hi," I replied back dumbly.

Rosalie was beautiful as well. Thin, with long blonde hair, I could tell that she was taller than me even with her sitting down.

"Where's Cait?" Edward asked, pulling the chair out across from Rosalie then motioning for me to sit.

"She's at home with a sitter," Rosalie said. "I thought it could just be us grown ups tonight."

The way she looked at me when she said 'grown ups' didn't escape my notice, but glancing at Edward I saw that he wasn't looking at her.

I could already sense that this was going to be a fun night.

Once Carlisle and Esme were seated at opposite ends of the table, we began passing the food around.

And Esme started asking questions about me.

"So, Bella. What is it that you do?" she asked.

"Well, I'm a student right now. I go to UW and I work part time in the bookstore there as well."

"What is it that you study?" Carlisle asked.

"English."

"Oh, just like Edward." he smiled.

"So, how old are you then?" Rosalie asked.

Edward shot his head up from his plate to look at Rosalie.

"I'm twenty-one," I replied quietly.

Hadn't Edward told them anything about me?

"Wow. You're young." I couldn't tell from her tone if she was genuinely surprised or meant it in a bitchy way.

"How did you two meet? Esme asked.

I looked at Edward, silently asking him to tell the story, which he did.

"It worked!" Emmett said, laughing.

Rosalie shot her husband a disapproving look. "I can't believe you tried internet dating, Edward. Seriously. You don't' know what kind of women you'll meet that way."

"It didn't end up being so bad," Edward said, looking over at me.

"So, really you both should be thanking me," Emmett said. "I mean, if it wasn't for me, you two wouldn't be here right now."

Edward rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I owe you one."

"Damn straight," Emmett replied before digging back into his food.

"Do you live in a dorm, then?" Rosalie asked.

"Um, no. I have my own apartment. I didn't really want to do the whole dorm thing."

"That must be pretty expensive, then. No roommates?" she asked.

"No..." I trailed off, wondering where she was going. "No roommates."

"Hmm," she replied, not taking her eyes off of me.

I looked down and resumed eating my food, shaking off the bad feeling Rosalie was giving me.

I hadn't done anything wrong, there was no reason for her to act so suspicious toward me.

The rest of the dinner went pretty well.

While the conversation kept going toward me, Rosalie didn't say much else.

When we had finished eating, I excused myself to the restroom after asking Edward where it was.

I gasped in shock when I opened the bathroom door to go back to the table and saw that Rosalie was leaning across the door.

My hand went to my chest. "Sorry, you scared me."

I took another step, but was blocked by Rosalie.

"Um, can I get through?" I asked.

"Listen, I know what game you're playing here," Rosalie hissed.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Oh, don't act so naive. I'm on to you. That innocent act may get you far with Edward and his parents, but not with me."

"Honestly, Rosalie, I have no idea what you're talking about."

I tried again to step passed Rosalie, but was she stepped in front of me.

"Young, broke college girl looks to scam wealthy, older guys, hoping to sink her claws into one of them deep enough to have all their financial worries solved.

"You have got to be kidding me! You think I'm some gold digger? I don't care about Edward's money. I'm doing fine with my own."

"What's a little more money?" She shrugs. "I know your type. I've seen them in action. I just can't believe Edward would fall for it."

I was speechless. Was she being serious? She'd known me all of an hour and she was attacking me like this.

"I guess I can't really blame him. You are kind of cute. Young. Definitely too young. I didn't know Edward did young and innocent."

"Screw this. I'm not going to let you stand there and talk to me like this." Taking Rosalie by surprise, I shoved past her and ran out, bypassing the dining area and going out the front door.

I kept running down the driveway and out to the street until I doubled over.

I was really out of shape.

Continuing to walk, I pulled my phone out of my bra where I had stashed it.

Already, I had a missed call from Edward.

Crap.

I couldn't call him back just yet.

I needed to calm down and get home.

I just needed a way to get home.

A taxi or bus was out of the question because I didn't bring any money with me.

Scrolling through my phone, I called the first person I could think of to come get me.

0-0

"Are you going to let me in on what happened?"

"I told you. Edward's sister in law is a bitch and I'm an idiot."

"Bella. That's not telling me much."

"Ugh. Fine." I told Angela the entire story.

Luckily, when I called her she hadn't been busy, so she was able to come pick me up.

"Wow. That sucks," Angela said as soon as I was done.

"Yeah," I agreed, nodding my head. "It really sucks."

I was silent most of the drive home.

"Thanks so much for picking me up," I said for the tenth time.

"No problem," Angela smiled, waving me off. "I'll see you at work Tuesday?"

I nodded. "Yup. I'll see you."

As Angela drove away, I made a mental note to bring donuts to work Tuesday as a thank you.

Once I was inside, I tossed my phone on the bed and stripped out of my clothes on the way to the bathroom.

A nice, hot shower was just what I needed.

Then I would call Edward back.

I felt guilty for just running out and ignoring his phone calls.

I also felt like an idiot for running out.

Rosalie got what she wanted and I was sure that I had embarrassed Edward in front of his parents.

I could only imagine what they thought of me after that stunt.

Sighing, I quickly showered and then toweled off, putting on a fluffy bathrobe.

Going back out to the living room, I flipped on the TV and sat down, scanning through the channels before settling on a show to watch.

Just as I was getting ready to call Edward, the doorbell rang.

Before I even got to the door, I knew who it was.

I should have known that he wouldn't just stay at his parents, wondering what had happened with me.

As I walked up to the door and opened it, I braced myself for whatever would happen once he began to talk.

"Hey, Edward."

* * *

><p>So, in light of what has been happening recently with the reporting and removal of fics, I've decided to start posting again on TWCS. I've already uploaded the first few chapters over there and my pen name is the same as it is here. There's a link to TWCS on my profile. I'll still be posting on FFn, but if my stories get removed, you'll know where to find me. Don't forget to put me on alerts there too, just in case!<p>

Let me know what you think and as always, I'll reply to your review with an EPOV teaser.

See you next time!


	15. Chapter 15

Of course, the Twilight characters aren't mine. See you guys at the bottom!

* * *

><p>Edward brushed past me and went into my apartment.<p>

"Come in," I muttered under my breath. I turned around to face a very angry looking Edward.

"What the fuck, Bella. What was that? Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"I'm sorry," I apologized, taking a step toward him. "I messed up. I shouldn't have ran. I'm so embarrassed."

"Well, I appreciate your apology, but I'm still pissed. After having it out with Rosalie, I tried looking for you. I called you. I knew you didn't have your purse with you, so you couldn't have gotten a cab."

I looked down at my feet. "I called my friend, Angela. She came and picked me up."

"Where's your phone?" he asked.

"Um, it's charging." I nodded over to my room where my phone was charging.

Edward wordlessly went to my room and I followed him.

Picking up my phone, he looked at the screen. "You've gotten my messages."

"I was going to call you back, I was just—"

"You know, most of the time your age doesn't even cross my mind, but then you go and do something like this and I just realize how _young _you are."

His words hit me like a punch to the gut.

It felt like a low blow, using my age against me. Something I couldn't change.

Something that Edward said wasn't an issue for him.

A part of me knew he was right though. I did an immature, foolish thing.

"I made a mistake, okay? I apologized. I've already embarrassed both of us in front of your family. I'm _sorry._"

Edward sighed and sat down on my bed, patting the seat next to me. "Come here."

I slowly walked over and sat down next to him.

I left a foot of space between us, which he wasn't having.

He scooted next to me and wrapped his arm around my waist, then pulled us backward so we were laying down across my bed.

"I should apologize too."

"What?" I asked, tilting my head to look at him. "You didn't do anything wrong."

He shook his head. "I should have known Rosalie would try to corner you. She was acting...off all night. I wasn't even thinking about it when she disappeared after you went to the bathroom."

"It's not a big deal," I disagreed. "She's an adult. You aren't responsible for her actions. I had no idea she would actually go out of her way to be vicious."

"I'm still sorry." Edward tilted his head to kiss my temple.

"You said you had it out with her...what did you mean?"

He sighed and ran his hand over his face. "I was so mad. I'm still mad. I asked her what she did and she was just so blunt about it, telling me. She was acting like she did me a favor. I was just yelling at her. Asking what gave her the right to say those things. Like she was the family spokesperson."

"Did she say why?"

"No." He shook his head. "My mom was mortified. Dad was pretty upset too. I don't think Rosalie expected that. She thought they would agree with her. Even Emmett, he was defending her but I think he was just as upset and shocked that she would do that as well."

"What happened then?" I asked, rolling over so I was on my side, facing him.

"Mom called it a night and told Rosalie and Emmett that they should leave."

"Ouch," I winced.

"Mmm. It wasn't good. My parents and Rosalie have always gotten along pretty well."

"God," I groaned, throwing my hands over my face. "Your parents must hate me. I can't believe I just ran like that.

I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Rosalie aside, the evening had been great. His parents were nice and seemed accepting of me. Now they would probably never want me in their home again.

"Don't. In fact, just before you left, Mom told me how much she liked you. Of course, she's concerned about the age difference, but she does like you. She even told me to apologize to you for Rosalie's behavior."

"I just don't want to cause any problems. I really don't want any more drama."

0-0

I kept repeating 'no drama' in my head three days later on Wednesday morning, when I decided to call Alice.

I hated the rift between us and I wanted to call her and see if we could come to some sort of understanding.

I missed Alice terribly and knew that I had to be the one to call her.

Steeling my nerves, I called her.

But she didn't answer.

I sighed and tossed my phone back on my bed.

A part of me couldn't help but think maybe she was going to ignore my call, just to spite me.

However, twenty minutes later, she called back.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Alice," I greeted her slowly. When I was met with silence, I added "It's me...Bella."

"Oh, hey, Bella! Wow. I didn't think I'd be hearing from you," she replied, sounding cheerful.

"Yeah. I know it's kind of last minute, but do you think you'd be able to get lunch today?"

"Um, yeah, sure." Alice didn't even try to hide her surprise at my question.

"Okay, cool. I thought we could just catch up and talk, you know?"

"Sounds great." She perked right up.

After settling on a restaurant, Alice and I made plans to have her pick me up in a couple hours to go eat.

Once we hung up, I called Edward to tell him about my plans.

"I see. You bit the bullet first and called her. Good for you, baby. I hope you can work things out," he told me.

"Thanks. I'm hoping that maybe you'll do that same," I hedged.

"Ah, I'm not sure about that," Edward sighed.

"Why not? It's the same thing."

"Alice was looking out for you as a friend and family member. Rosalie was—"

"Doing the exact same," I interrupted. "Look. I don't particularly like Rosalie, at all. I don't think she even ever gave me a chance as soon as she met me. But she's your brother's wife. She's your family."

"You're right, I know. I think I just need a few more days to cool down. I'm still pissed." Changing the subject, he asked if I was nervous.

"Yes," I replied, almost instantly. "Well, just a bit."

Edward laughed. "It'll be fine. Hopefully she'll be able to see reason this time."

I agreed with him. After talking a few more minutes, we hung up. Edward had errands to run and I needed to get ready.

An hour and a half later, I was showered and dressed in shorts, a t-shirt and my Converse when Alice texted me, saying she was waiting outside.

Grabbing my phone and handbag, I went outside to meet her.

"Hey," I said quietly, slipping into the passenger side of her yellow Porsche.

"Hi." Alice leaned over and hugged me.

I awkwardly wrapped an arm around her, hugging her back.

We didn't talk much on the drive to the Mexican restaurant we were going. Instead, Alice turned the radio up and sang along to it until we got there.

Once we were seated and the food ordered, I worked up the courage to bring up the reason I called Alice in the first place.

"I actually asked you to lunch so we could talk about..everything," I finally said.

"I figured." Alice set down her fork and let out a nervous laugh. "I've been wanting to talk to you too."

"Okay," I replied, surprised. "You can go first, then."

She smiled slightly at me before it felt like the floodgates were released.

"I am so, so sorry, Bella. I should never have acted like that toward you. First, I push you to make that dating profile and then once you find a guy, I try to manipulate you into dumping him to find someone else. And then to know that you two are serious. I mean, Uncle Charlie told me that you had Edward come over and meet him. I mean, that's a _big _step. I didn't even have my parents meet Jasper for months into us dating."

"Woah, Alice. Slow down," I told her, my head still spinning.

"Sorry, sorry. I've been thinking about what I wanted to say since you called me."

"By all means then, keep going." I laughed in spite myself.

"I guess a part of me was also letting my problems out on you. Jasper has been distant lately and we've been arguing. I think we're going to break up." She looked down and put her hands in her lap.

"Alice, I'm sorry."

"No, don't be. Besides, we aren't here to talk about that. Save that for another day." She waved me off.

"I really do like Edward," I told her. "I just have this...connection with him. He's amazing. Sure, he's older than me. Yes, it's gotten us looks. But I don't care. It's cliche, but after being with Edward, I can truly say that age _is _just a number."

"You love him," she stated, rather than questioned.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure I do," I sighed.

"You don't sound very happy about that," she noted.

"I am happy. It's just...isn't it too soon?" I asked.

"You guys have only been together less than two months. But then again, every couple is different," Alice pointed out. "Does it feel too soon?"

"I know it should be, but it doesn't feel like it. I'm scared to tell him though. What if he thinks it's too soon and doesn't say it back? Doesn't feel the same way?"

Alice shrugged. "That's always a risk, even when you've been together for a while. Do you really think he'd say nothing though?"

"No." I shook my head. "Edward is too nice. Too kind. He wouldn't outright say he didn't love me back. But with the huge mess I made Sunday, I'm not sure."

"What happened Sunday?"

I sighed again and debated whether or not I should tell her everything.

So far, talking to Alice had felt good. I was finally able to get things off my chest. Don't get me wrong, I did have Angela to talk to as well, but I wasn't close to her like I was with Alice.

Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to tell her.

"Edward asked me to his family dinner on Sunday. Besides his parents, his brother and sister-in-law were there as well. His parents and brother were really nice and welcoming. But Rosalie, his sister-in-law, I don't know. I think she thought she had me figured out before she even met me.

"Uh oh. That doesn't sound good. What happened?"

"Ugh," I groaned. "Rosalie literally cornered me. Like, physically. She told me that she knew what game I was playing. Accused me of being after Edward only for his money. She all but called me a gold digger."

"That bitch!" Alice exclaimed. "I would have kicked her ass. Please, tell me you did."

"No. Instead, I ran," I admitted.

"You ran," she repeated.

"Yes. I freaked out and ran out of the house, leaving behind my bag. Luckily, I had my phone so I was able to call Angela."

"Did Edward do anything? He didn't even try to stop you?"

"Okay." I groaned. "This is probably where it get's worse. I completely ignored his phone calls. I went home and a little while later, he shows up.

"Was he mad?"

I nodded. "He was pissed. But, we talked it out. He even apologized for Rosalie's behavior, which I told him was totally not necessary. Everything is good between us now."

"Awww, you made it through your first fight," Alice cooed.

"Shut up." I laughed, causing her to break out in laughter too.

After a bit though, Alice sobered up. "I've missed hanging out with you."

"I've missed you too," I admitted.

"You know how hard it is for me to apologize. But I am really sorry. I totally overreacted. Maybe I could pass off the first time as me PMSing or whatever, but the second time I really don't have an excuse. You have to believe me though when I say that it all did stem out of me looking out for you."

"I do, Alice. Even if you went about it the wrong way, I know you were just looking out for me. I know you're the older one, but we aren't kids anymore. I can make my own decisions, including my own mistakes. I appreciate you looking out for me but there's a line to be drawn."

"I promise, Bella. I won't butt in like that again. I'm willing to give Edward a fair chance, seeing as how you guys are serious and even Uncle Charlie seems to approve."

"Dad approves?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, mostly. I don't think they're going to become besties right away, or anything."

I laughed, trying to imagine my dad and Edward hanging out.

"Hey, maybe we can have a get together? Something casual. Ooh, a barbecue? You, me, Edward and maybe Jasper? I think it would be fun."

"Yeah," I slowly agreed. "I'll run it by Edward, but I'm pretty sure he'd like that."

"He doesn't hate me?" Alice asked. "I totally understand if he does."

"Nah. He's actually been pushing me to call you. Edward said that you were just looking out for me."

After getting to-go boxes and paying the bill, we headed outside to her car.

The car ride back was completely opposite from when we were going to the restaurant.

Alice was clamoring on about her job, obviously feeling completely at ease with me again.

It all happened so fast, which in hindsight was a blessing.

The open expanse of road seemed weird for a Wednesday afternoon.

Alice cruised along, unobstructed by traffic.

Looking out the passenger window as we went through an intersection, I saw an SUV driving too fast for it to be about to stop at the red light.

There wasn't even time for me to scream before the impact.

* * *

><p>dun dun dunnn.<p>

I hope Bella (and Alice) are okay.

I'm thinking for the EPOV I'll send out in review replies, it'll be Edward finding out about the accident. So, if you'd like to see that, don't forget to review. I love reading what you guys think.

One last thing, updates may not come weekly, but unless there's some unforeseen circumstance there won't be a longer than 2 week wait.

I think that's it. See you guys next week!


	16. Chapter 16

Little disclaimer before we begin. I am in no way medically inclined. If anything below is wrong, I'm sorry. I attended the Goggle School of Medicine, not Stanford.

Also, thanks tropicalsorbet!

* * *

><p>I woke confused, unsure of my location.<p>

My whole body ached.

Behind the steady beeping I could hear muted voices and sounds.

The last thing I could remember was turning my head to see an SUV coming straight at us with no sign of stopping.

Cracking my eyes open, I squinted against the harsh artificial light.

Turning my head, I saw the vitals monitors, explaining the beeping.

I was in a hospital.

I shifted in the bed, letting out a low groan.

Instantly, my dad appeared at my side.

"Bella? Honey? Are you okay?" he asked, concern painted all over his face.

I nodded slightly and tried to respond, but my throat was so dry, I couldn't get the words out.

"Let me get you a nurse and some water. You gave us quite a scare, there."

I settled back into the pillow, shutting my eyes before they shot open in panic.

"Alice?" I croaked out. "Where...?"

"Shh, she's okay. Jasper took her home already." He leaned forward and put a reassuring hand over mine.

I wanted to ask him what happened to us, but the nurse interrupted by coming in.

After she checked up on me and I choked down a few sips of water, I asked if I could use his phone.

"I need to call Edward. He's probably worried by now. I was only going to be a couple hours."

"Edward's in the cafeteria with your mother. He's been practically glued to your side since I called him."

"Wait, Mom's here?" My eyebrows scrunched together. "How did she get here so fast?"

Dad's voice was gentle when he replied. "Bella. You've been in the hospital for three days now. You gave us a real big scare."

Three days. I'd been in the hospital for that long? I tried to remember anything from the past few days, but it was all blank.

"I want Edward." I knew I should probably have my mom come in first, but right now all I wanted was him.

My dad stood up. "I'll go get him. It took Renee ages to convince him to go get something to eat. I guess I should get something to eat while I'm in there."

I thanked him and shut my eyes, which had started to feel heavy.

"Bella? Oh, god. Baby." Edward came barreling in the room, looking disheveled.

I offered him the most reassuring smile I could as he sat down in the chair my dad has just left.

"Hey."

He grabbed my I.V. laden hand and brought it up to his lips, kissing an unbandaged area.

"Hey?" He sounded incredulous. "You scared the shit out of me. I was so worried."

"I'm okay," I assured him.

Edward let out a derisive snort.

"Okay. Well, I will be okay, eventually." I looked down from my right arm in cast to my blanket covered body. "What's the damage?"

Apparently, my attempt at a joke fell flat, because it earned a scowl from Edward.

"You had a concussion. Broken wrist and leg, fractured ribs. There's also some bruising as well."

The entire time Edward spoke, he seemed so...calm and detached.

"Jesus. What happened? I just remember seeing an SUV coming toward us. My dad said Alice was okay, but I can't remember it."

Edward nodded. "She is okay. I was actually able to meet her briefly when she was being discharged."

"That's good. I hope she was nice."

"She left pretty drugged up, I think. Her boyfriend was wheeling her out."

I could tell that Edward continued to hold off on telling me what happened, so I asked again.

Begrudgingly, he told me.

"The other driver wasn't paying attention and ran the light. He clipped the side of Alice's car and the car spun until it hit a telephone pole."

I struggled in my mind to remember any little detail, but fell short.

I knew it was for the best, though.

"Dad told me that you've been here since he called you."

"Of course I have, Bella. There's nowhere else I would want to be." His thumb made soothing motions over the back of my hand.

"You didn't have to. But thank you." I yawned. "Maybe now that I'm awake you could go home and get some rest. Take a shower."

"Is that your way of telling me I smell?" He laughed.

I sniffed and scrunched my nose. "Well, now that you bring it up..."

"Okay. A shower might feel good. Too bad you can't join me."

I laughed, which proved to be a bad idea. The dull ache in my ribs flared and I bit back a groan.

"Shit, sorry, baby. Are you in a lot of pain?" he asked.

I nodded. "I think I might need more drugs."

"I'm going to go home for a bit. Want me to get the nurse for you?"

I nodded. "Thank you. Try and get some decent sleep, too."

Edward kissed my forehead then stood. "Let me do the worrying, okay? You just rest."

It only took a few minutes for the nurse to arrive once Edward had left. After she administered more pain medications, it took even less time for me to fall back asleep.

The next time I woke up, I knew where I was, but nonetheless startled when I saw my mother's face hovering over mine.

"Oh my god. Sweetie, you're awake!" Her pitch seemed to raise with each word and by the last, I could hear tears in her voice.

"Mom. Stop. I'm okay," I assured her.

Even to my own ears, my voice sounded slurred from sleep and medication.

"I know, I'm an emotional mess. I'm so glad you're alright." She sniffed and grabbed a tissue from my bedside table to wipe her eyes.

"Where's Phil?" I realized that neither Edward nor Dad had mentioned him.

"He couldn't get out of work on such short notice. He sends his love though and is expecting a phone call as soon as you feel up to it."

"I will."

I could sense questions on the tip of her tongue. Knowing what she wanted to ask, I prompted her first.

"So, Dad told me that you were in the cafeteria with Edward earlier."

"Oh, Bella. Edward's such a nice man. Your father told me that he came as soon as he found out about the accident. When I got here, he hadn't left your side. I thought he would drive himself sick with worry."

I felt my heart flutter, knowing that Edward cared so much about me. It was also nice to hear that my Mom seemed to like him as well.

"So I take it you approve then?"

She nodded. "I do. It's weird to think of him as my age, but the more we got to talking, to the more I could see that you two are perfect for eachother. He loves you so much."

"Mom." My tone was warning. I definitely did not need that conversation now.

"I'm just saying," she defended. "Are you saying you don't feel for him like that?"

"It's too soon," I argued. "We've only been together a little while."

"Time doesn't apply to matters of the heart, Bella. No one can tell you when or how to feel."

After Mom left, I tried going back to sleep, but even with my brain muddled all I could focus on was my mother's words.

The next morning when I woke up, a nurse informed me that if I needed to, she could take me to the bathroom. With the help of her and my mother, I was able to hobble into the bathroom.

While my mother waited outside for me, the nurse helped me go to the bathroom and then wash up.

When I looked in the mirror, I gasped.

"I look horrible!"

Honestly, I wasn't sure why my appearance surprised me. The doctor had told me that I hit my head, but I guess I wasn't thinking about the physical reminders it would leave behind.

"It looks worse than it is." The nurse's words kind words did not help me feel any better.

I guess it boiled down to selfish pride. I had broken bones yet found myself more concerned by the fading bruises on my face.

They were now turning from purple to yellowish-green, but I could tell they were once an angry purple color. I also had a long cut almost up to my hairline.

In another moment of embarrassment, my mind went to having Edward see me like this and much worse.

"Stop worrying, Bella." My mom chastised, once I was back in bed. "Bruises will heal."

"I know. It's just Edward saw me like this. That's all. It's dumb."

"Well, I can promise you that Edward never thought you were anything less than beautiful."

0-0

The hospital was boring.

Between bouts of sleep and nurses and doctors checking on me, I had nothing else to do but what the TV on low volume.

Apparently, it wasn't until the day I woke up that I had a roommate.

She was an older woman, and although I didn't see her because of the curtain dividing us, I heard Edward talking to her a few times.

There was no doubt that she hadn't been charmed by him as well, judging by the way I heard her giggle.

In fact, the one thing I did notice happened to be that Edward had charmed them all.

The first time I was clued into the fact that all the nurses were dazzled by Edward had been when I overheard two nurses talking about him.

"Shoot. Looks like tall, dark and handsome still isn't back. I won't get to see him before my shift's over."

The other nurse laughed. "Looks like it's my turn with him, then."

"I wonder if he has a brother."

"If he has a brother, I call dibs!" The nurse laughed.

Were they talking about Edward?

"Those eyes are to die for. They're so green. His teeth are so white."

"You focused on his eyes and teeth? Girl, did you get a look at—"

I had heard enough.

Shifting in the bed, I let out a low groan of pain.

"How are you feeling?" One of the nurses, Renata, came over to me.

"Sore." I winced.

After I declined taking another dose of pain medication, she informed me that she would be leaving for the day.

"Kate will be taking over for me. You're in good hands with her."

Right, I thought. She was the same one that wanted to get her hands on Edward.

When Edward returned a few hours later, looking a lot more well rested, I relayed the story to him.

"Are you...are you jealous?"

I huffed and crossed my arms the best I could.

"No. I'm just saying. They're supposed to be helping people, not gossiping about hot guys."

"You are _so _jealous." His eyes twinkled with mirth.

"Look at me!" I motioned around my face with my casted arm. "You never told me that I was covered in bruises! I'm hideous. My cheek is still a little swollen, too."

"You look beautiful." His words were meant to make me feel better, but I still felt unattractive.

"It's just...you're so handsome. I know I'm acting dumb. I was in a car accident. I'm lucky to be alive."

"Baby, your bruises will fade and the cuts with heal. You're still beautiful. Trust me."

0-0

The next day Alice came to visit me.

After three waking days in the hospital, I found myself going a bit stir-crazy.

She hobbled into my room on crutches, followed by Jasper, who had one of Alice's large tote bags slung over his shoulder.

After Jasper spent a few minutes asking me how I was, he told Alice he had a few errands to run and for her to call him when she wanted to leave.

Judging by how they interacted, it appeared that whatever cause Alice to think he would break up with her had passed.

I made a mental note to ask her about it when I was out of the hospital, away from prying ears.

"How are you doing?"

Alice pulled up a chair and sat down. "Ugh. I hate these crutches. Other than that, I'm fine. I felt like shit the first couple days after, but other than that, I can't really complain."

"You broke your leg, Alice," I pointed out.

She shrugged. "I know. But you were so much more worse off than me. I was so scared. There was so much blood and you wouldn't wake up."

"Come on. You grew up with me. How many times did I fall trying to climb trees? Or rollerblading? I'm not the most graceful of people."

"You remember what happened?"

"I was. You should see the car. My side is mostly fine, but you hit the pole. Your head bled so much."

Alice started to tear up. "Hey, I'm okay now. The doctor even told me this morning that I might be able to go home tomorrow."

I reached out to squeeze her hand. "I'll be back to normal in no time."

She gave me a watery smile and reached for her bag. "Okay. Enough of that sad stuff. I have magazines and nail polish."

A little over an hour later, Alice called Jasper to pick her up.

"Let me know if you need anything." She leaned down to gently hug me.

I thanked her and promised to call her once I got home. I knew that I probably wouldn't be up and about anytime soon, so a movie night in at my place sounded good.

0-0

I could never stomach hospital food.

Right after Alice left, Edward came in to visit, followed by a nurse delivering my dinner.

I pulled the lid off the plate and frowned.

"Ew. This is supposed to be lasagna?"

Edward leaned over and shrugged. "Looks good."

I scowled as I unwrapped my utensils and stabbed at the offensive looking food. "As soon as I get out of here, we're getting real food."

Pushing aside the lasagna, I grabbed the roll and bit into it.

"So, I was thinking," Edward began. "And well, I talked to your parents about it and they agree."

"You've talked to my parents?" I wasn't mad about it, but did find myself surprised that they spent time together.

"Well, yeah. Your dad has been staying with me." He picked up my fork and started to eat the lasagna I had abandoned.

Instead of commenting on him eating the gross looking food, I focused on his earlier statement.

"My dad is staying with you?"

Edward nodded. "It wouldn't make sense for him to be travelling back and forth from Forks to Seattle every day."

While that made complete sense, I hadn't really thought about it. I did, however, know that my mom had been staying at my apartment.

"Okay, so what is it that you and my parents have decided on?"

"Instead of going back to your place, you'll come back to mine."

Edward looked at me expectantly, waiting for my reaction.

Inside, my mind buzzed and I felt a mixture of excitement and fear. The doctor had told me that it could take a few weeks until I was back on my feet.

Obviously, I had never lived with a guy before. Actually, I'd never lived with anyone that wasn't blood related.

What if he grew tired of me?

Also, where Edward was a neat and tidy person, I wasn't. I mean, I wasn't a slob, but clothes strewn on the floor and dishes in the sink didn't bother me like I knew it did him.

Sure, we had stayed the night at each others places, but for only a night at a time.

Instead of saying voicing my concerns, I simply said "I really don't want to impose."

He frowned down at me and shook his head. "Nonsense. You wouldn't be imposing at all. I told you, what's mine is yours. Your dad told me that he has to get back to work and I know your mom needs to as well. Besides that, I want you with me. I want to take care of you. Let me."

Well, when he put it like that, how could I say no?

"I'm horrible when I'm sick or not feeling well. I get extremely cranky."

"Hmm." He paused to think. "I did overhear the nurses talking about how you were a huge...diva, I think they said."

"Hey! I am not." I huffed.

"According to them, you are. Demanding new pillows, not eating your food. A menace."

I scowled at him. "You're lying."

He smiled back at me. "I am. I'm sure you've been nothing but the consummate patient. So, what do you say?"

"Are you sure I won't inconvenience you?" I stressed.

"Positive. I have more than enough room. A huge, comfy bed with a TV. I can wait on you hand and foot. Plus, you won't have to walk up those stairs to your apartment. We wouldn't want you getting more injured."  
>I had to agree with him there. Climbing up the stairs with broken bones, on crutches, seemed like an unpleasant, if impossible feat.<p>

"Okay. I'll stay with you while I recover."

A wide smile broke out on Edward's face. "Great. II knew you would agree to the idea."

0-0

As I suspected, the next day I was discharged from the hospital. My dad and Edward had both arrived separately.

Edward planned to drive us to his place while Dad was getting my prescription filled for pain meds.

After he finished at the pharmacy, he would go by my apartment to pick up my mom, who was bringing me clothes and toiletries.

The drive from the hospital to his house didn't take long and for most of the trip, I thought about how tired, hungry and in need of a real shower I was.

Although I knew that I couldn't take a shower, I might be able to pull off a bath in Edward's huge jacuzzi tub. Maybe with him in it.

Edward looked over to me as he turned to pull onto his street.

"What's got you beaming like that?"

I blushed and shook my head. "Just thinking." Although I desperately wanted to reconnect with Edward in that way, I knew it was a long way off. My body still ached, including my ribs.

No use in teasing him now.

Seeming to know what I was thinking of anyway, he chuckled said, "later."

Yeah, much later.

"Home sweet home," he said, pulling into the driveway.

I didn't comment, instead just looking out the window to his house.

Hopefully he didn't run for the hills before I recovered.

* * *

><p>The response to the last chapter was amazing, you guys rock. I was in no way expecting that.<p>

There were a few of you who had FFn cut off the ending of your review reply. In that case, I've posted the EPOV of 15 on my blog. For the other few of you that didn't receive a reply to your PM or review, please check to see if you have PM's disabled. There were quite a few of you that have them disabled.

I'm not sure what chapter 16's EPOV will be, so if you have any suggestions, let me know.

Also, come find me on Twitter, FB, etc. The links for all those things are in my profile.

Pretty sure that's it. I'll see you guys next time!


	17. Chapter 17

Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait. Hope you like the chapter and please be sure to read the a/n at the bottom.

* * *

><p>Once I finally settled at Edward's, he told us he would go get food.<p>

Surprisingly, my dad offered to tag along.

"Are they like...buddies now?" I laughed.

Mom rolled her eyes. "You could say that. They definitely bonded while you were in the hospital."

"That's good." And it was. The thought of my boyfriend and my dad not getting along didn't sit well with me. While I knew I was serious about Edward and my father's opinion wouldn't change mine, it was still really important to me that they like each other.

"Bella. I think you have found an amazing man in Edward. He cares for you so much. I'm so incredibly happy for you. He looks at you like you're the only person in his world."

"I'm really lucky." I had to agree with her.

"I'll admit. I was still concerned when I first met him at the hospital. But after seeing him with you for just an hour, my mind completely changed. You're in good hands."

I blushed. "I love him."

She nodded and laughed. "That much is obvious, honey. You look at him like he hung the moon.

But Edward looks at you the same way. You two truly have something special."

When Edward and Dad returned a little while later with food, we ate together around the coffee table. With me sitting up on the couch with my legs stretched out, Edward, Mom and Dad piled cushions on the floor to sit on.

For once in my life, I don't think I had ever been happier to be home and eating good food.

0-0

"How do you feel? Oh, I wish I didn't have to go home but I can't miss more work." My mom nudged me forward to fluff up the pillows on the couch that I was leaning against.

It was barely nine in the morning, but my mom already grated on my nerves.

Dad hadn't stayed long in Seattle. By the second day he told me that he needed to go back to Forks.

He didn't hover over me. Once he saw that I was settled at Edward's and being taken care of, that was enough for him. He left quickly with promises of coming back soon with Sue.

Mom however, was another story.

She hovered. She mothered. She came over early in the morning and wouldn't leave until late at night.

I thought she would never go back to Florida, but when Phil called and reminded her of her job, she finally relented.

Edward insisted that he didn't mind having her over, but I noticed him taking his laptop to the park or Starbucks to get work in. He also took the dogs out for longer periods of time.

"Mom." I reached out with my good arm to put my hand on hers. "It's fine. Really."

"I know, I know. I just worry. I'm going to be so far away from you." She pouted.

I rolled my eyes. Of course, I was grateful that my mother was there. As comfortable as I was with Edward, there were still some things I didn't feel wholly comfortable doing around him or asking for help.

The independent streak in me hated having to ask for help.

"Well, I guess that's it then. If you need anything, let me know, okay? I can be on a plane back to Seattle in no time."

"Thanks, Mom." She leaned down to gently hug me. "I better not keep your young man waiting any longer."

I laughed. Young man, indeed.

"I'll miss you. Call me when you get home, okay?"

She agreed and grabbed her handbag. After one last kiss on the cheek, she went outside to where Edward was waiting in the car with her luggage.

The next two weeks passed by at an almost agonizingly slow rate.

The first few days after Mom left and it was just Edward and me proved the hardest.

My body still ached and due to the painkillers the doctor gave me, I found myself sleeping more often than not.

Edward kept me entertained, though.

When I was awake, he would sit with me in bed and watch TV. If he needed to go out, he would make sure that at least one dog slept on the bed to keep me company.

Even though I wanted to sleep next to him at night, he insisted he sleep on an air mattress in the living room, worrying that he could possibly hurt me in the night.

However, as much company as Edward kept me, I had never been so bored in my life.

Thankfully, true to his word, Dad and Sue came to visit me the following week.

"What is all this stuff?" I asked Sue. We were sitting on the couch, watching as Dad carried in a large icebox.

"Well, you can't move around much and Edward mentioned he isn't much of a cook, so I decided to make some meals for you guys. Just one less thing you two have to worry about, that's all."

Sue smiled and shrugged.

"You really didn't have to go to the trouble!" I insisted. "But thanks. It'll be nice to have a home cooked meal."

She waved me off. "You know how I like to cook. It was no problem." A devious grin overtook her face. "I must admit though, I didn't think you'd be shacking up with Edward so soon. How is it?"

"Sue!" Between my mom and her, I wasn't sure who was worse.

"Well?" she pressed.

"He's...he's really sweet. He takes very good care of me." Sucking in a breath, I continued. "As excited as I am about getting better, it's going to suck to go home."

0-0

Two weeks later, I knew I was well enough to go home.

I felt better; I didn't spend hours of the day sleeping and no longer took pain meds.

Edward didn't know.

Hiding my improved health from him made me feel like utter crap, but I hated the idea of going back to my apartment.

At Edward's house, we had fallen into a routine.

Well, it was more that Edward had a routine.

I didn't do much around the house except let the dogs in and out and make sure they had enough food and water.

But I felt comfortable at Edward's. I loved waking up in his house and laying in bed, listening to him moving around in the morning.

A night owl, Edward would lay in bed with me until after I fell asleep, either reading or quietly watching the TV.

Of course, preceded by a lot of making out.

So, when it came down to it, I did nothing.

The next two weeks passed and everything seemed okay.

Or so I thought.

Over the course of my stay at Edward's, our preferences of housekeeping became glaringly apparent.

More than once, I caught Edward trailing behind me around the house, straightening out pillows and tidying up wherever I had just been.

Edward didn't even seem appeased when I made an effort to clean up after myself.

I worried, would this be the dealbreaker?

It felt so silly, but my mind went back to the conversation we had before I agreed to stay at Edward's.

In a way, I expected what happened next, I just thought the outcome would be the opposite.

0-0

"Okay, Bella. I really think we need to have a little talk." Edward announced as he came into the bedroom. Propped up against a mountain of pillows, I found myself engrossed in another episode of Hoarders.

"In a minute." I focused on the TV, watching as a man sobbed over parting with his collection of old newspapers.

"Now." The TV clicked off and I blinked, confused as I stared at the remote in Edward's hand.

"Hey. I was watching that!"

"Right. Like you've watched it for the last four hours. And I'm sure the next four hours as well, seeing as how it's an all day marathon," he pointed out.

"Fine then." I crossed my arms as best I could across my chest. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I would really, really appreciate it if you could pull your weight around here a little." He tossed the remote on the TV table and stood at the foot of the bed.

"What? I can't just do everything. I have a broken arm and leg." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not saying you have to vacuum or cook, but you could at least load your dishes in the dishwasher. Have you seen the sink? The dishes are overflowing. Also," he motioned to the pile of clothes he stood next to, "does that look like the hamper to you? No."

"I'm still in pain, Edward. Don't be so anal."

"I'm not anal. I like my home a certain way. I don't think I'm acting unreasonable at all. If you can walk all the way to the kitchen to put the dishes in the sink, you can take the extra step to rinse them and put them in the dishwasher." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

I looked at Edward's stressed, tense expression and promptly broke out into tears.

"Shit, baby. Why are you crying? What's wrong?" He walked over to me and sat down on the side of the bed.

"We're fighting about dishes and dirty clothes!" I quickly wiped at my eyes, trying to stop the flow of tears, but to no avail.

"I wouldn't say we're fighting. More like...disagreeing." Edward reached out for my hand and took it in both of his. "What's wrong?"

"You're going to break up with me!" I wailed. "I'm horrible to live with. You're so nice and neat and I'm a slob."

"Baby." He laughed. "I'm not going to break up with you because you don't put your dishes away, or leave clothes on the floor, or even how you insist on leaving all your stuff out on the bathroom counter."

"You don't like that either?" I sniffled.

"Everything you do is endearing." Pulling me closer to him, he wrapped his arm around me. "I love you, Bella."

"You...you love me?" I couldn't believe what I just heard. Here I thought he planned to break up with me and he instead he made a grand declaration like that. "Really?"

Edward nodded. "I do. I love you. How could I not?"

"I love you too." I twisted my body and flung my arms around his neck. "So much."

I felt a huge weight lifted off of me. I just needed to confess one thing.

"I should tell you something though." I took a deep breath before continuing. "I've kind of been...faking it."

Surprisingly, he laughed. "Bella, I already knew."

"What? How?" My mind ran through the past two weeks, when I started to feel well enough to move around.

"Let's just say you put on a _very_ interesting show in the kitchen last week." He grinned wickedly.

Groaning, I realized what he must have been talking about.

"Remember now? When I was out running and you were listening to the radio in the kitchen while you were eating."

"Oh, god." I unwrapped my arms from around his shoulders and buried my hands in them. Images of me singing, loudly and terrible, all while attempting to dance, played out in my mind.

"Don't be embarrassed." He chuckled. "It was cute."

"I'm not embarrassed," I moaned. "I'm mortified."

"It was sexy. Trust me, I had to sneak off to the shower after I saw you."

"Really?" By now, my tears had dried and I was left with a wide smile on my face.

"Oh, yeah." To reiterate his point, he pulled me onto his lap, pressing me into his erection.

"Don't tease me," I whined. Edward had been insistent upon not having sex during my recovery, meaning that it had been over a month since the last time.

He chuckled lowly. "Who says I'm teasing?"

"You mean, we can..." I trailed off, instead grounding down on him.

"I figure, since you've been faking it and appear to be well enough, we can try. I'll be gentle."

Edward brushed my hair off my neck and ran his nose down the column of my throat. Losing myself in the sensation, my head dropped to the side as he began kissing the same path.

"Gentle's good," I finally choked out.

As he kissed, nipped and sucked along my neck, I tried to maneuver to lay down, but Edward stopped me.

"Let's do it like this," he murmured.

"Okay." At that moment I would have agreed to anything he said. "I've never done it like this."

"Move for a sec." I slid off his lap and sat down beside him on the bed, watching as he stood up

and quickly removed his clothes.

Once I was stripped as well, Edward lay back down on the bed straddled his waist.

My eyes shut as I felt Edward's gaze on me.

The cuts and bruises had all healed, yet still being so exposed in front of Edward left me feeling shy.

I let out a squeal when he quickly sat up and wrapped an arm around my lower back, scooting back until he was leaning against the headboard.

"I need you in me," I whispered, pressing a soft kiss to the side of his mouth. "Now."

Edwards free hand traced the side of my body until it was between my legs, on my clit. When he realized how ready I was, he groaned. "Fuck, baby."

I giggled and lifted my hips enough to sink down onto him.

Edward let out another low groan.

The position was somewhat awkward, while I wasn't in a ton of pain, the cast made kneeling difficult and the one around my wrist seemed to keep getting in the way.

That didn't deter Edward, though.

Rocking against him, the pace began slow, but as Edward grew closer to his orgasm, the

rhythm faltered and grew erratic.

With a few quick, long thrusts, he came.

"Mmm." He leaned his head forward and brushed damp hair from my forehead.

"You didn't come." He frowned. "I'm sorry. I guess I was a little...eager."

I shook my head. "I'm fine. We have all day, after all."

Edward smiled. "Yeah. We do."

* * *

><p><strong><strong>This last chapter was like pulling teeth.

Come say hi to me on Twitter at Happymess89


	18. Chapter 18

So...it's been a while. Hi. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

><p>"Oh, thank god!" We were walking out of the doctors office where I had just had an appointment.<p>

Edward laughed. "Glad to have the cast off?"

I nodded and paused to rotate my ankle. "I feel kinda gimpy, but yes. I never want another broken bone."

The doctor had checked out my other injuries as well and deemed me healed.

The relief was enormous.

In the time that had passed since our declarations of love, I still hadn't spent a night at my apartment.

In reality, the only times I went back to my place was to check my mail or get something from it that I needed.

The topic of me moving in never came up, but I already had my clothes hanging in his closet, my toiletries in his bathroom and my favorite foods in the kitchen.

"I am too, baby. I'm glad you're okay. I think that you should start coming out with dogs and me. Get some strength back in that leg," Edward suggested.

I laughed as we walked up to his car and got inside.

"Edward, I can't run. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even make it half a block." I told him as I buckled my seatbelt.

"We start slow, walking. I don't think it would be good on your leg to start running right away."

I shrugged. "I guess I could try. I feel like a sloth compared to you though."

It was Edward's turn to laugh. "Stick with me and we'll have you running in no time."

A few days later, Alice came by Edward's for lunch.

"No Edward?" She observed as she walked into the house.

"Nope. He's at some work meeting. It's just me and the dogs." Alice followed me as I led her to the kitchen to start preparing the food.

I wasn't sure what occurred between Edward and Alice, but he was somehow able to win her over, just like he had with my dad.

While I hadn't asked either about what prompted the change of heart for Alice, I hoped that it had been her seeing with her own eyes how well Edward treated me and stepped up to the plate after my accident.

As I dug through the fridge to get the ingredients to make sandwiches, Lulu trotted into the kitchen and promptly jumped up, setting her front paws on the counter top, stealing a cold cut.

"Lulu, down!" I admonished her. Whining, she flopped back on the floor and sulked back into the livingroom.

"Bella, that dog is seriously huge. Did you see her? She was taller than me. Aren't you scared?"

I laughed. "Scared? She's all bark, no bite. And trust me, she has a bite. Why, are you scared of them?"

Alice looked uneasy as she eyed them from where she stood. "No."

I gave her a pointed look.

"Okay," she relented. "A bit."

Once the sandwiches were made, I grabbed drinks for us and took them out onto the patio.

While we ate, I told her my plan for getting back on track and hopefully becoming more fit.

"Ohh, maybe we could do yoga together? I went to a couple classes before the accident and it was pretty fun. Plus, I'm sure Edward would appreciate it if you were more...bendy," Alice said with a suggestive wag of her eyebrows.

"Alice!" I laughed.

"Oh, don't be a prude. I can tell you without a doubt that Edward will appreciate your newfound bendiness just as much as Jasper appreciates mine."

"How are things with you and Jasper?" I asked her, remembering how she told me she thought they would break up.

She shrugged. "Good, I think. I hope."

Alice fidgeted in her seat. Clearly, it wasn't all better.

I took a sip of my drink. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Well, what if he's just staying with me out of obligation now?"

When I asked her what she meant, she continued. "I mean, my parents don't live close. Other than them, I have you, but you were injured too. Maybe he was just staying with me because he felt bad and knew I needed help. I don't want him to stay with me out of pity."

"Alice, I'm sure that's not it. Jasper is a good guy, yes, but if he was unhappy, you would know. One of the things you love about him is that he's unfailingly honest."

She gave a weak smile. "I hope you're right."

"Have you tried talking to him about it?"

"No." She sighed. "I should. I guess I'm just scared of what he'll say."

"Well it's better than just second guessing everything right?" I reached across the table to squeeze Alice's hand.

"You're right." Alice laughed. "Since when did you become so wise in relationships?"

I rolled my eyes and shrugged.

"Hey, I've been monopolizing your time with my sob story. I want to hear about you. How's everything with Edward? What's it like living with him."

A wide smile settled on my face. "It's great, actually. I'll be sad when I have to go home."

"Why don't you just move in? I mean, you guys have been living together for a while now, that seems to have been going pretty well."

I laughed. "It wasn't that great. Actually, a couple weeks ago I thought he might break up with me."

"Please." Alice let out an unladylike snort. "He is so pussy whipped. No chance in hell of you two breaking up."

I relayed my mini-meltdown to Alice, who surprised me by laughing at the end of the story.

"Well, you can be quite messy," she teased. "So, you guys seriously haven't talked about you just like...moving in?"

"No," I replied. Suddenly, my stomach felt queasy. "It's too soon though, right? That's what I've been telling myself. I shouldn't be worried. Edward not asking me to move in doesn't mean anything."

Alice shot me a quizzical look. "You know, maybe you should heed your own advice. It sounds like you two have stuff to talk about."

I sighed. "Yeah, I think you're right."

0-0

"We need to talk."

Edward and I were sitting on the couch, eating takeout.

It was three days after Alice and I had lunch together and I had spent the past three days wondering how to approach the topic of my living situation without freaking him out.

"Okay." Edward set his plate down on the coffee table and angled his body toward mine. "What is it?"

I mirrored his actions, but took a sip of wine before talking.

"I haven't stayed a night in my apartment in months, but I'm still paying rent on it. Now that I'm okay, I think I should move back."

I looked down as I spoke, not wanting to see the expression on his face.

Edward was quiet for a moment. "Do you want to go back to your apartment?" he finally asked.

"In a week I'll have paid three months rent on an apartment I haven't lived in." I avoided answering Edward's question.

He quirked a brow. "I understand that. But tell me, do you want to move to your place?"

"What do you want?" I questioned, changing tactics. It felt juvenile, but I wanted to hear it from him before I said anything.

"Bella." He let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm asking you."

"No."

"No?" he parroted.

"I don't want to move back," I admitted. "I like it here. I like waking up next to you and having the dogs keep me company during the day. If I move out it just...it feels like we'll be moving backward, you know?"

Edward nodded. "Are you ready for this to be a permanent thing though?"

I snorted. "I should probably be asking you that. Can you handle me?"

"Oh, I think I can handle you." The grin on Edward's face was mischievous.

"Stop!" I laughed. "I'm trying to be serious."

"I know." He pulled me closer to him until I was almost in his lap. "I have lived with a woman before. I know that may make you feel uncomfortable, but I know how to cohabitate."

Edward was right, I didn't like the thought of him having a romantic history before me. But shoving that thought away, I nodded. "I guess there's stuff to discuss then. Like...where will my stuff go."

"Easy." Edward laughed. "I don't have much. If there's any furniture you want to keep, we can store it until we find a place for it. Don't worry."  
>"Okay," I replied, surprised at how amenable Edward was. "But what about bills and stuff like that? I think I should pay for half."<p>

"Absolutely not."

"What?" I found myself momentarily stunned. Why wouldn't I pay my way? Granted, it wasn't exactly my money, but still.

"I don't want you to have to worry about money. Just keep your money for yourself and spend it on what you want."

"I don't want to feel like I'm not contributing." I insisted.

"Bella, you contribute in more ways than monetary. The dogs adore you. I adore you."

"At least groceries." I told him.

"Are you going to do the cooking?"

I nodded. "You like my cooking."

"I do." He nodded. "Okay, you can get groceries. A compromise."

I smiled. "Good. I like that idea."

0-0

Edward came back with me to my apartment a few days later in order to pack up what I wanted to take with me.

Unfortunately, my lease had just been renewed, so instead of breaking it, Edward suggested that I sublet it for the remaining months of my lease. That way, I could leave all my furniture behind and once the lease was up, decide what I wanted to keep and discard then.

"You know, after I'm all settled in, we should finally celebrate your birthday the proper way."

Edward had turned forty while I was still healing, so aside from dinner with his parents, he hadn't celebrated it yet.

"We don't have to do anything," he disagreed.

"Too bad. I'll think of something. Just don't worry your pretty little head about it."

Edward scowled. "There's nothing pretty or_ little_ about it."

0-0

The first person I told about the new living situation was Alice, who I figured would be the easiest.

She had been busy with work, so instead of telling her in person, I did it over the phone. Needless to say, that after minutes of her excited screeching and asking questions, she said she was happy for me.

"Have you talked to Jasper?" I asked.

Alice hesitated before answering. "No, I guess I'm just scared."

"It'll be okay."

Alice sighed. "I know. But any, how did your parents take the news of your living arrangements?"

"Ugh." I groaned. "Mom was ecstatic, practically. I had to convince her we weren't getting married anytime soon. As soon as she started mentioning babies, I had to hang up."

It was true. While before my mom had insisted she was too young to be a grandma, once I told her I was permanently moving in with Edward, she asked me about our plans for the future.

"And Uncle Charlie?"

"Haven't told him yet. Actually, Edward and I are going to Forks next week, I'll tell him them. I'm not sure how he'll react, so hopefully him seeing that Edward isn't like...forcing me to stay with him will help."

Alice laughed. "Sounds like a plan. But trust me, Charlie will be okay."

After a couple more minutes of talking, I heard Edward's car pull up into the driveway, followed by the dogs barking. "Hey, I gotta go, Edwards home."

"Aww, you sound so domestic saying that." Alice laughed.

"Ha. Ha. I'll call you later, okay? Bye."

Just as I ended the call with Alice, Edward came walking in the house with a bag of groceries, looking troubled.

"I thought that I was doing the grocery shopping?" I joked.

"Well, I beat you to it." I followed Edward into the kitchen and perched myself on top of the counter.

"So, how was your day?" I asked, swinging my legs.

"I talked to Emmett."

"Oh?" Edward and Emmett weren't fighting over the whole debacle still, but according to him, Rosalie still wasn't willing to apologize.

He nodded. "It's Caitlin's birthday in a couple weeks and there will be a party at my parents. Of course, we're invited."

"We?"

"Yeah. We're a package deal. Besides, it's at my parents house. Rosalie has no real say there."

"I don't know." The idea of coming face to face with Rosalie again left me feeling uneasy, but at the same time, I didn't want to hide away and make her think she's won. "I don't want there to be a spectacle or a scene. But I'll go if it's important for you."

"Good." Edward smiled. "Hopefully we'll get the spectacle out of the way when we go to dinner at my parents tomorrow night."

* * *

><p>So, a lot of stuff is coming up in the fic including dinner with Rosalie and going back to Forks to tell Charlie. How do you think those things will go?<p>

Be sure to check out the blog for 2 new posts.

A big thanks to Mina Rivera for making the awesome book cover for MPM and IllicitWriter for making a banner for the EPOV outtake (you can learn where to get that by visiting the blog.)

I think that's it. Come find me on Facebook and Twitter at HappyMess89 on both.

See you next time and don't forget to review if you'd like, you'll get an EPOV snippet from this chapter!


	19. Chapter 19

Hi! Before we begin, a big thanks to Tinsley and Tropical Sorbet for helping me out with this chapter. (and my favorite bumfudger, but she'll never read this)

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><p>"Are you sure I look okay?" I stood in front of the full length mirror, smoothing down the dress I wore.<p>

We were getting ready to go to dinner at Edward's parents house. Whereas Edward dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, I chose to wear something a little nicer. I wanted to look nice, but now I was having second thoughts.

Edward walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, nuzzling my neck with his nose.

"You look amazing. I don't get why you're so nervous. It's just my parents. You know them."

I sighed and leaned back against him. "And Rosalie, your brother and niece."

"You're scared of Caitlin?" he joked.

I caught his gaze in the mirror and frowned. "She's the least of my worries. I'm more concerned that Rosalie will lunge across the table with a steak knife in hand."

Edward spun me around until I faced him. "Relax. You'll be fine. Rose will be on her best behavior with Caitlin there. She doesn't want her knowing that mommy is an evil, evil woman."

Rolling my eyes, I pushed him away. "Okay, okay. Lets just get this over with."

0-0

Forty-five minutes later, we were sitting in the driveway of his parents house.

"Looks like they beat us here," I commented, nodding to the car that parked ahead of us.

Edward reached over and clasped my hand in his. "It's going to be fine. I promise you. If it gets really out of hand, we can leave."

As sweet as the sentiment was, I knew that if we left early, Rosalie would view it as some sort of victory for her. Like I couldn't handle my own.

"Don't tell me you want to back out now." I laughed.

"Never. I just want to thank you for this. I hate making you uncomfortable, but hopefully this will go well."

Edward rang the doorbell and almost immediately a stampede of tiny feet was heard from the other side of the door.

"Uncle Edward's here!" A high pitched voice exclaimed, followed by the front door opening.

In a flash, a small body flung itself into Edwards body and just as quickly, Edward reacted, scooping Caitlin up and into his arms.

"Uncle Edward! I missed you!" Caitlin giggled. Turning to me she asked, "who are you?"

"Well, Caitlin, this is Bella, my girlfriend. Bella, this is Caitlin, my favorite little niece."

Just as I was about to greet her, Caitlin interrupted me. "Mommy hates you."

Surprised, my mouth snapped shut.

"Caitlin!" Esme scolded, walking into the entrance way. "That's not a nice thing to say."

She gave an unapologetic, as only a little kid could. "It's what I heard daddy say."

"Well, It's not nice to repeat what you hear your daddy say." Esme held out her hands and took Caitlin from Edward. "Especially when he's not saying nice things."

"Ooh, Daddy is in trouble!" Edward teased.

"Daddy's _always_ in trouble," Caitlin repeated.

We followed Esme back into the house to living room, where everyone was seated. With my hand firmly planted in Edward's, I pasted a smile on my face and sat down next to him on the couch.

In my periphery, I could see Rosalie scowling at me, her arms crossed against her chest.

"How about we go upstairs to your room and play?" Esme suggested to Caitlin, who eagerly nodded.

Carlisle, looking around at the tense atmosphere, stood. "I think I'll tag along."

Once they had left the room, Edward spoke.

"Look, let's just get this over with now, okay?" he sighed, leaning back against the cushions. "No sense in just dragging it out past dinner."

Rosalie gave a curt nod and then turned to me. "I don't like you."

I nodded. What else could I really say? She made it clear that she wasn't my biggest fan from the beginning.

When I didn't take Rosalie's bait and start a scene, she continued. "You're way too young for Edward. He's a grown man. You...you're a child. Why Edward, is it his money? The stability he has to offer you?"

"No, that's ridiculous. I'm with Edward because I want to be. He's an amazing, kind man. He makes me laugh. I'm with him because I love him for who he is, not what you think I have to gain by being with him."

"Love? You love him. What, do you have some sort of daddy issues?" she scoffed.

"I don't have to justify my relationship with him to you. Or to anyone, even. Everyone else has accepted our relationship, even if they had their reservations at first."

Changing tactics, Rosalie turned to Edward. "Have you told Tanya about this? What would she think if she knew this?"

"No, I haven't talked to Tanya recently. I don't need to report to her about my love life. Our relationship ended a long time ago. In case you don't remember, Tanya is engaged. I plan on bringing Bella with me to the wedding."

That was news to me. Edward had never discussed the wedding with me, or really any of his life with Tanya.

"Are you really going to bring Tanya into this?" he asked.

"Tanya still cares about you," she insisted. "If she knew—"

In a tone calm and low, Emmett spoke. "Rosalie, that's enough. If Tanya knew, I'm sure she would be happy for Edward. She certainly wouldn't want him alone forever. Just at least try to be happy for him, okay? He loves Bella. Mom and dad really like her. He's happy. Just let that be enough."

Rosalie shot her husband a deadly glare and stood up. "Whatever, Edward's a big boy. Let him make his own mistakes."

We all watched as Rosalie stormed away.

"I'm sorry, guys." Emmett hung his head and let out a deep sigh. "She'll come around eventually."

Dinner was tense. Ten minutes after Rosalie stormed away, Carlisle, Esme and Caitlin came back downstairs.

"Mommy's pissed, that's why she's not coming down for dinner." Caitlin had announced when we were all seated.

"Caitlin! Remember what I said earlier? Don't repeat what you hear grownups saying. It's not nice," Esme chastised.

"Sorry, Nana."

The exchange helped lighten the mood somewhat, but dinner wasn't it's usual loud affair.

While sitting at the table, I found myself watching Caitlin and Edward.

She had insisted on sitting next to him and judging the way Edward doted on her, it was clear he loved his niece to bits.

An unfamiliar pang hit me as I watched them interact with each other. Instead of Edward being with his niece, I pictured him with a little girl of his own. Of our own.

I shook my head, I was getting far too ahead of myself.

I was only twenty-two. I was soon going to enter my final year of college.

We weren't married. Hell, we weren't even engaged. Kids were a long way off.

Then there was the more immediate concern was the pissed off sister in law upstairs, brooding.

But Edward was a natural with Caitlin. Seeing him around her, it was only natural that I'd wonder what he would be like with any of our hypothetical, potential offspring.

Instead of letting myself linger on that thought any longer, I pushed it to the back of my mind, choosing to focus on getting through dinner without Rosalie coming downstairs for round two.

Edward and I didn't stick around long after dinner. It seemed like nothing was going to get resolved that night with Rosalie acting like a petulant child, hiding upstairs.

With another apology from Emmett and hugs from Carlisle and Esme, we were on our way home.

0-0

Once the front door closed, Edward stomped down the porch steps with me quickly following behind him.

Once we got settled in the car, a silence followed.

"Are you okay?"

He turned to me and let out a humorless laugh. "Am I okay? Shouldn't I be asking you that? I just, I can't stand her. I don't understand what she has against you, or me, to cause act like this."

I shrugged as Edward started the car and pulled it out of the driveway. "She feels a loyalty to Tanya, to your family. In a way, I get it. Maybe not the way she's going about it though."

When Edward didn't say anything else, I continued. "You know, we didn't get to tell them about our living arrangements."

"I can always call my parents and Emmett to let them know." Edward shrugged. "They'll be happy for us, baby. I don't want Rosalie to tarnish the moment."

For the rest of the drive home, Edward remained quiet and tense.

But as soon as we both walked into the house, he pounced.

"Fuck, baby. You were so sexy," he growled, pushing me back against the wall.

My breathing hitched, surprised by the sudden change in Edward's mood.

"What?" My voice trembled at the sight of the lust radiating from Edward's hooded eyes.

"The way you stood up for yourself to Rosalie."

"That turned you on?" I asked in disbelief. My confusion quickly disappeared when his lips attached themselves to my throat, sucking gently on the skin at the base of my neck.

Edward nodded emphatically. "Wrap your legs around my waist."

I quickly complied, hooking one leg around his waist and using the wall as leverage to wrap my other leg around him.

With my legs around Edward and his hands cupping my ass, my dress rode up around my waist. When Edward thrust against me, I could feel the outline of his erection hot against me.

"Bedroom," I groaned pleadingly. "Please."

"No." Edward shook his head. "Here. I need you now."

Anticipation coursed through me, my heart was pounding in my chest.

Unable to verbally answer, I responded by arching my back, pushing myself into Edward.

"Mmm, you want it, don't you?" Edward growled, nipping at my neck. "You want it just as badly as I do."

I mewled in response.

Edward brought one of the hands that had been steadying me around the front and dipped into the panties I was wearing.

"You do want it," he confirmed. Without pretense, he thrust his index and middle finger into me, eliciting a sharp moan from me.

As Edward worked his fingers in me, my hips ground and gyrated into his hand, the fabric of my underwear creating friction between my clit and his palm.

His fingers were talented. Beyond talented. He knew just where and how and when to touch me that would guarantee to send me into a tailspin.

The sensation reached it's peak and my orgasm raced through me, blossoming outward to my toes.

Once I came back down, I realized that my thighs were clamped tightly around his waist, squeezing him and trapping his hand inside me.

"You're so beautiful," Edward whispered, kissing me lightly on the lips. "The way your pussy squeezed my fingers, I need to feel it do that to my cock."

Edward pulled his fingers out of me and I caught him by his wrist.

Emboldened by the pure look of love and lust in his eyes, I brought his hand up to my mouth and licked his fingers clean before sucking them into my mouth.

Edward breathed out a low string of curses and pulled his hand from my mouth, replacing his fingers for his lips.

With a voracious hunger, Edward kissed me. With the knowledge that he could taste me on my tongue, arousal surged through me once more.

Moving back a bit, I thought Edward was going to set me down on the ground, but instead he shifted his hold on me and carried me to the living room.

He let go of his hold on me and slid down his body to land on still unsteady feet.

"Bend over the arm of the couch," he commanded.

I hesitated for only a moment before complying.

From behind me, I heard a rustle of movement and the clinking of a belt as Edward unbuttoned his pants.

I turn around to watch, but the dim lights that glowed inside the house from the street wasn't strong enough to brightly light the room.

Sinking down to his knees, Edward palmed my ass in both his hands, then glided them up to the tops of my panties and pulled them down around my ankles.

Before standing back up, he took turns kissing each cheek, following the kisses with little nips.

He ran his cock through my wetness, making me squirm.

I pushed back into him, causing just the head of his cock to slide into me.

"Greedy for me, aren't you?"

I groaned and nodded my head, pushing back all the way onto him, working myself on him.

Edward continued to stand still, letting me guide the pace. Eventually though, the grip he had on me tightened, his fingers digging into the flesh of my hips as he started meeting my thrusts.

My head dropped into the cushion and I let myself fall into the sensations Edward was creating.

All too soon, another orgasm rushed through me. I bit my lip against the embarrassingly loud moans that were threatening to escape.

Edward bent over, pressing his chest to my back. I love the weight of him. The heaviness of his body against mine. His warm, wet breath against my neck.

After a few more thrusts, his body stilled and he groaned, spilling into me.

"I love you," Edward murmured, kissing my neck then standing back up. He gingerly pulled out of me, hissing as his cock met the cold air.

My entire body felt like a puddle on the couch. Floating, listless, I couldn't find the energy to move and right myself.

Realizing that we hadn't been interrupted, I turned my head and asked Edward where the dogs were.

"They're outside, baby. Good thing too, otherwise I think we would have traumatized him."

Edward knelt down to take my underwear all the way off and shoved them in his pocket, then pulled me to stand.

"Come on, let's go shower and go to bed."

I nodded in agreement and followed him to the bathroom, my muscles already beginning to ache.

0-0

Some time later, we were both showered and in bed. Chester and Lulu hadn't allowed us any more privacy; Edward let them in the house after our shower and now they lay on the floor by the bed.

"You know I love you more than anything, right?" Edward asked.

I rolled over onto my side to face him. "Yeah, of course I do."

"Good. I just don't want you to think that what Rosalie says, what her opinions are, means anything. She's never gotten any say in my personal life and she certainly doesn't have any now."

"I know." I smiled reassuringly at him and reached out to run my fingers through his hair. "Sure, if she approved of me, that would be great, but I'm not going to force her to. It's just you and me. That's all that matters."

Edward nodded. "You and me. From now on, let's just move forward."

* * *

><p>Hope you liked it!<p>

First I want to say thanks to all of you that voted my fic, Whatever Comes Next for Top 10 completed fic of August on TwiFanFictionRecs. It placed at number 8, which is pretty cool.

I updated the blog (there's an awesome gif of naked DuRob, I suggest go checking it out) as well as a couple pics of how I picture Caitlin.

Lastly, I do reply to all reviews that are signed in and have PM's enabled and include a little snippet of EPOV in the chapter. I'm thinking some EPOV of the lemon in this chapters review replies, yes? So if you're interested, feel free to review! I love hearing what you guys have to say. Come find me on FB (link on profile) and say hi to me at twitter at HappyMess89.

See you next time!


	20. Chapter 20

Hey! Hope you like the chapter. See you at the bottom.

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><p>When I told my mom the next day that Edward and I were moving in together, needless to say, she was thrilled.<p>

Then she started asking me if this meant a ring might not be too far in the future.

"Mom!" I yelled, thankful that Edward wasn't home to ask me what was wrong.

"What?" She feigned innocence. "It's only logical. You move in together, you get engaged, married, then have babies!"

I nearly choked on air at her statement. Marriage and babies? True, it had been on my mind the previous night, but it was still early. Way, way too early to be thinking like that.

"It's not like that, Mom. We're taking things slow." When she snorted, I realized my mistake. "Okay, maybe we became serious fast, but in no way are there going to be wedding bells anytime soon, okay?"

"Okay, okay. I just don't want to see my baby living in sin for too long." She paused. "Have you told your dad yet?"

I groaned. "No, not yet. Edward and I are going to Forks this weekend. I figured he would want to know in person."

"I'm sure it will be fine, sweetie. Your dad likes Edward. Just make sure Sue is there to back you up."

Great.

Telling Edward's parents had been exceptionally easy. They were both happy for us and offered to help move my stuff to Edward's.

When the conversation and excitement began to die down, Esme asked to speak to me.

"Bella, I just want to apologize for Rosalie's behavior. There's really no excuse for her behavior. She knows better, yet somehow she doesn't see how her actions are creating a rift in the family."

"Esme, I'm really sorry." The nagging thought that this was partly my fault entered my brain.

"No, no. This isn't you, dear. You have nothing to feel bad about. Trust me. Anyway, I've talked to Emmett and told him that his wife's behavior isn't acceptable in my house and if she can't see past her own prejudices, then she's not welcomed here."

"Oh. Okay." I was momentarily stunned by the harsh tone of her voice. The idea that she would stick up for me like that made me feel like I was really being wholeheartedly accepted into the family.

The next day, there was further indication from Edward's parents when a delivery man came by the house, bearing a gift basket that contained a bottle of wine, a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolate, along with a "housewarming" card for Edward and I.

When I asked Edward about the weird gift choice, he laughed and shook his head.

"That's my mom for you. Everyone gets a gift basket regardless of occasion. It's somewhat of a tradition with her. Everyone knows they'll get a basket for a holiday, just not what's in it."

"Oh, that's actually kind of sweet," I said, opening the box of chocolate and picking one, popping it in my mouth.

"You know what else is sweet?" Edward took a step forward and grabbed me by my hips, pulling me closer to him.

"The chocolate?" I replied coyly.

Edward shook his head. "Your mouth."

He leaned down and kissed me passionately. When we broke apart, I was in a daze.

"Now, with this housewarming business, I think the first rule is to christen all flat surfaces."

"Is now?" I asked cocking an eyebrow. "But, you already live here. It's just me moving in."

Edward just shrugged, already walking me backwards to the couch. "I think we can bend the rules just this once."

0-0

When Saturday morning rolled around, Edward and I woke up early wanting to get a head start on our trip to Forks.

"Are you_ sure_ you want to bring the dogs?" Edward asked for the umpteenth time as we loaded up our bags into the back of his car.

"I feel bad leaving them alone." I tuned and pouted at Edward.

"They wouldn't be alone, they would be with my parents for the weekend." He pointed out, putting the last bag into the car and then following behind me as I went back into the house to get the dogs.

"You're their daddy, though. They miss you when you're gone. Besides, they'll love Forks. My dad has that huge yard and there's so much there that they can explore. They'll just love it."

When we got inside the house, Edward grabbed me and wrapped me in a hug and kissed me.

"What was that for?" I smiled up at him.

He shrugged, still not releasing me. "I'm just happy, that's all. You make me happy."

0-0

Edward put the dogs in the back of the car,after lowering the back seat to make more room for them. Then we were on the road.

Four hours, a stop through the McDonald's drive thru, and two stops to let the dogs stretch their legs, we reached the familiar Welcome To Forks sign.

"Bella! Edward! How are you? Come in, come in!" Sue ushered us inside. "Your dad just called and said he was on his way home."

Edward followed Sue inside, while I went to take Chester and Lulu around the back to let them into the yard.

Just as I was finished and about to ask Edward for help unloading the car, my dad pulled up into the driveway.

"Bella, you made it!" Dad said as he got out of his car, then walked over to take the bag I was lifting from me. "Where's Edward?"

"Sue already has him inside." I rolled my eyes. "Once again, I think she's more excited to see him than me."

Dad laughed good-naturedly. It was obvious that Sue found Edward attractive, which, let's be real, every woman found him attractive. Yet, she treated him just like she would Seth, like he was my age rather than being about the same age.

I didn't think my dad felt threatened by Sue's behavior.

Dad helped me get our overnight bags as well as the dogs things into the house, then we went inside for lunch.

I was nervous all day, anticipating having to tell my dad about our new living arrangement. I had already decided to tell him during dinner.

Since I hadn't come to Forks frequently post Jacob, I suspected that Dad knew something was up. However, he didn't ask me about it.

Later in the evening when we had all sat down to dinner, I decided to just blurt it out.

"So, Edward and I are moving in together."

I waited with baited breath, watching for my dad's reaction.

Finally, he set down his fork with a sigh. "I expected as much."

"What?" I looked over to Sue, who just shrugged and smiled.

"Oh, come on, Bella," he answered with an exasperated sigh. "I wasn't born yesterday. I figured you'd end up moving in with him. You didn't seem in quite a hurry to move back into your place."

"And you're okay with it?" I clarified.

Dad nodded. "You're an adult. It wouldn't do me any good to try to stop you. Always been stubborn as a horse."

My face scrunched up. "Thanks, Dad. I think."

He nodded gruffly, then turned to Edward, picking up his knife and pointing it at him. "Take good care of her."

"I will," Edward looked at my Dad, then to me.

"Good." Dad picked up his fork and resumed eating.

Well, I guess that was that.

The next morning, Edward and I went out for a quick breakfast at the Diner, then headed back to Dad's house to pick up the dogs. The plan was to walk back into town for a walk.

Each with a leash in hand and Edward's arm around my shoulders, I felt like I was in some sort of perfect world.

The usually dismal weather was even perfect. The sun was warm and the skies were a clear blue.

We had just gotten into the main part of town when I heard someone call after me.

"Bella?"

I stopped short, and instant panic gripping at me.

I knew that voice.

Edward, sensing my discomfort, squeezed my shoulders.

Slowly, I turned. "Hey, Jacob."

He smiled at me, his eyes roaming appreciatively up and down my body. "Wow. Never thought I'd run into you here."

"Yeah. Totally weird," rocked back on my heels.

"Baby, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" Edward asked, dropping his arm from around me to hold out in front of Jacob to shake.

"Yeah, sorry. Edward, this is Jacob. Jacob, Edward."

Jacob reluctantly took Edward's hand. From the strain in his muscles, I could tell he was trying to hurt him.

Judging by the expression on Edward's face, Jacob's wordless threat wasn't making an impact.

When Edward released his hand, I introduced the dogs.

"So what brings you to Forks?" Jacob asked, eyeing Edward.

"Just visiting my dad and Sue. Thought the dogs would enjoy some fresh air for a change."

"Ah, I see." Jacob smiled at me. "So, you coming to Rez tonight with Sue and Charlie?"

"No, Edward and I will be heading back to Seattle this evening." The idea of going to La Push made my stomach churn.

"That's too bad. And Edward is your..."

"Boyfriend." Edward supplied before I could respond.

"Boyfriend?" Jacob let out a sardonic laugh. "Right, right."

"Jacob—" I was about to tell him it was none of his business, to back off, but he interrupted me.

"You can't be serious, Bells. How old is he?"

"It's really none of your concern, Jacob." I could sense his temper quickly flaring and needed to disperse the tension.

"And Charlie's okay with this? Bells, come on. Let's go somewhere to talk, just you and me. We can work it out. I forgive you for before," he said gently.

I looked at him in disbelief. He wanted to work things out? He _forgave_ me? For what?

Looking at him, something in me snapped. "No, Jacob. I don't want to go anywhere with you. There's nothing for us to work out. Now if you'll excuse us, we'll be on our way."

I took a step forward to walk past him, but his hand shot out and gripped me tightly around my upper arm. "Wait."

Immediately, Edward was by my side. "Get your hand off of her."

"Stay out of this, old man."

"Jacob, please. You're hurting me." Besides me, Chester and Lulu were growing restless, sensing the tension.

Jacob threw my arm down roughly. "You're making a mistake. We're good together. We've known each other for almost our whole lives. Our dad's want us to be together."

I shook my head. "No, my dad doesn't want us together. I doubt yours does either. It's over, Jacob. You haven't even tried contacting me at all. Our friendship was ruined."

He threw up his hands. "Fine. If that's the way you see it. Just don't come crying to me when it's over." He then turned to Edward. "Have at it. She's frigid, but at your age I doubt you could handle much excitement."

Before I could even comprehend what was happening, Edward dropped Lulu's leash and pulled his arm back, his fist swinging in Jacob's face.

Jacob staggered back, bringing his hand up to his face.

"Edward!" Around me, the dogs started going crazy and barking.

The situation went from bad to worse when I noticed some passerby stopping to stare.

"The fuck is your problem?" Jacob yelled.

"My problem?" Edward laughed humorlessly. He took another step toward Jacob. "Don't ever, _ever _talk like that about or to Bella."

"Whatever, man. She's not even worth it. Keep the bitch."

Edward looked like he wanted to say something more, or maybe hit Jacob again, so I stepped in front of him. "Let's just go, okay? I want to go home."

That seemed to break him out of the fog of anger he was in.

Edward nodded wordlessly and turned to walk away, giving Jacob one last hard stare.

"Hah. Maybe I was wrong, maybe the old man is your bitch." He called after me.

I turned on my heels to face Jacob. "You used to be my best friend. Dating you was the worst decision I've ever made. But seeing you now? I can't imagine you ever being the person I thought you were."

0-0

I could tell Edward needed to cool off a bit more, so instead of heading back home, I detoured us to the park.

After getting the dogs off their leash and into the dog run, I joined Edward on the bench he sat at, his elbows on his knees and head cradled in his hands.

"Is your hand okay?" I took my hand in his to examine it, noticing the slight swelling of his knuckles. "You got him pretty good, didn't you?"  
>Edward sighed and pulled his hand from mine. "I shouldn't have done that."<p>

"What?" I stood up and folded my arms across my chest. "You were defending my honor."

"Bella. I'm a forty year old man. I can't just go around punching people. Besides that, what if Jacob goes to the police? It wouldn't look very good if I get arrested for hitting a kid.

"Ouch." I couldn't deny that stung a bit. Is that how Edward still saw me?

He groaned and sat back, leaning against the back of the bench. "You know that's not what I meant. You may be the same age as him, but you're light years ahead in intelligence and maturity."

I smiled at him and wedged my knee between his and sat down on his lap. "I wouldn't worry about Jacob going to the cops. My dad would be the one handling it and Jacob wouldn't be able to tell the whole story without Dad taking his own swing. Jacobs dad will be pissed that he was out here. It's sort of their agreement."

"Agreement?" Edward wrapped his good arm around my waist.

I nodded. "Jacob's pretty much banned in Forks. Not officially or anything, but my dad can't stand to be in the same room as him even. Luckily, Jacob's dad understands where he's coming from."

"Good," Edward grunted.

I absentmindedly rubbed my arm where Jacob had grabbed me.

"Shit, baby. I'm an ass. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Edward lifted up the sleeve of my shirt to see where I had been rubbing.

"No, no." I shook my head. "I mean, it's a little sore. But I'm okay."

"He's a little shit for putting his hand on you."

"I don't think he meant to." When Edward gave me a quizzical look, I explained myself. "I mean, yeah, he did. But I don't think he was doing it to be aggressive or hurt me."

"Even if he didn't mean to, he did," he pointed out.

"I know, I know. We can talk more about it later, I guess. Are you ready to go back yet?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I'm ready."

0-0

Of course, my dad did find out what happened.

As soon as we got back to the house, he was walking out to greet us, his expression unreadable.

"What's this I hear about you getting into a verbal and physical altercation with Jacob Black?" He asked Edward.

In a rare show of nervousness, Edward raised his arm to rub the back of his neck.

"It wasn't like that!" I huffed. "Jacob was being a jerk. Edward was just...defending my honor."

"Defending your honor," Dad parroted back, looking at Edward.

"I don't even want to repeat the things that he said, Charlie. He even put his hands on her."

Dad's eyes widened shot to me. "He did? Are you okay?"

I glared at Edward, who wasn't looking at me. I was hoping to leave that part out to avoid making Dad any more worried or angry.

"Yeah, but I'm fine. Totally fine."

His eyes narrowed and I could tell he wasn't sure if he should believe me or not.

Truth was I was still a little shaken up. But for now, I was focused on trying to stop the two angry men from creating any more drama.

"Okay. Well, how about I go put the dogs in the backyard and we all go inside and forget about this?" I cheerfully suggested.

"Oh, I'll be having a word with Jacob Black. Believe me. I'm not going to let this one slide," Dad warned.

I groaned. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

The rest of the day, both my dad and Edward seemed to be in sour moods.

While Sue and I prepared to barbecue for dinner, the men brooded over baseball and beers. In the kitchen, I filled her in on what had happened with Jacob earlier.

"That's just horrible, Bella. Sarah, God rest her soul, would be ashamed of Jacob's behavior. Especially with him grabbing you like that. He has two older sisters. What would they say if they knew?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. It's weird. It's like he's not even the same guy I grew up with. The old Jacob is gone."

After we ate, Edward and I loaded his car back up and went to say our goodbyes to Dad and Sue.

"Now, if Jacob gives you any trouble, give me a call immediately," Dad said, hugging me.

"Dad. I really doubt Jacob is going to come all the way to Seattle just to bother me."

"Hey, humor me, okay? You never know."

He released me from his hold and I took a step back. "Okay. I'll let you know."

"You too," he said, turning to Edward. "Keep an eye out."

Edward nodded. "Will do."

I wanted to roll my eyes at my dad's protective behavior, but resisted. I knew that he was truly concerned about me. Jacob just didn't seem like a real threat to me.

After promising to visit again in a few weeks, Edward and I were on the road, heading back to Seattle.

"Well, that went well, don't you think?"

Edward laughed. "For the most part."

* * *

><p>As always, if you review I'll send you a little peak of EPOV from the chapter. I pretty much always decide on what to include in the review replies right before I send them, so you can always suggest what scene from the chapter you would like to see. I appreciate and LOVE reading your reviews; they always make me smile. Also, I've updated my blog with a few pics from this chapter for those interested. The link for that is on my profile.<p>

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I think that's all for now. Don't forget to review and I'll see you next time!


	21. Chapter 21

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>"Maybe this is a bad idea."<p>

I was alone in Edward's car, my fingers drumming against the steering wheel as I was driving back from picking up Edward's birthday present.

The incessant meowing that had started as soon as we left the animal shelter continued on, further cementing the notion that this possibly was a very bad idea.

0-0

We were finally going to celebrate Edward's birthday.

The whole day was planned out. It started this morning with me waking up early and surprising him with breakfast in bed. Waffles, his favorite, smothered in butter and maple syrup.

After a leisurely morning in bed, I finally got up and told him that I had to go by the bakery to pick up his cake.

In truth, I _was_ picking up his cake. I just also swung by the animal shelter to pick up the kitten I had adopted the day before.

The notion of getting a pet together as a sort of practice baby wasn't new to me, but I hadn't considered it until I was left wondering what the hell to get Edward for his birthday.

There was nothing materialistic that also fit into my budget that I thought he would want.

I wanted the gift to be meaningful, and well, what was more meaningful than a kitten?

When I went to the animal shelter, I told myself it was just to look. But then I saw this tiny little kitten big, sad, blue eyes, I knew I couldn't leave without her.

According to one of the volunteers at the shelter, the kitten had come from a litter that was being fostered. All of them had been fixed and adopted out, except her.

Needless to say, twenty minutes later I left with adoption papers and a promise that I would be back the following day to get her.

Which led me to now.

I just hoped Edward wouldn't be too mad.

0-0

"Go sit down on the couch!" I told Edward, pushing him towards it. "I'm going to get your gift. Just...stay here."

Edward gave me a quizzical look but nodded and sat down. Once I got the dogs in the backyard, I went to the guest bedroom to get everything ready. I found the sleeping kitten under a chair and placed her in the box I had wrapped to put her in. With holes, of course.

Satisfied that she was still asleep and wouldn't begin meowing again, I carefully picked the box up and carried it out to Edward.

"Here you go," I set the box on Edward's lap and he immediately cringed. "What's wrong?!"

Did he have some sort of sixth sense and already knew what was in the box? Had he peeked in the guest room today and seen the kitten?

"The box is wet." Edward lifted the box off his lap and sure enough, there was a wet spot starting to form on his jeans.

"Shit!" With Edward still holding the box up, I ripped the lid off and pulled the kitten out and cradled her in both hands.

"She's not exactly litter box trained," I explained sheepishly. "And maybe the box was a little scary for her."

"You got me a cat." Edward looked dumbfounded.

"Maybe," I replied slowly, gauging his reaction.

"The cat peed on me."

"Just a little bit!" I said, defending the kitten and pulling her against my chest. "She's just a baby."

"I need to go change."

Once Edward went off to the bedroom to change, I held the kitten in one hand and with the other, picked up the box and took it outside to the garbage.

_This really had been a bad idea, _I thought to myself. _What had I been thinking?_

Right. I hadn't been.

Feeling sorry for myself, a few tears slipped down my cheeks and I sniffled.

When I walked back in the house, Edward was sitting on the couch, waiting for me.

Looking up, he saw my tears and leaned back, patting his lap.

Smiling tearily at him, I sat down, swinging my legs so they were laying on the couch.

"Why the tears, baby?" Edward asked, running his hand down my bare legs.

"You don't like the kitten I got you." I pouted. Even though he may not like her, I was growing more and more attached to her.

"I do. I was just surprised. I wasn't expecting a cat. But...she is awfully cute." He reached out and scratched his index finger underneath her chin, causing her to start purring loudly. "Does she have a name?"

I shook my head. "No, I was leaving that up to you."

"We'll have to think of a good one then."

"We're keeping her then?" I asked, unable to keep the surprise out of my voice.

"Of course." He laughed. "I like her. She's cute. And I think you're pretty attached to her too."

"But she peed on you!" I blurted out.

Edward laughed harder. "Yeah, she did. But I've raised Chester and Lulu since they were puppies. We haven't gotten to where we are without some problems.

Putting the kitten down on my lap, I threw my arms around Edwards neck and peppered kisses all over his face.

"I love you, I love you!"

Edward smiled. "I love you too, baby. But tell me, why a kitten?"

I blushed. This part I was hoping to avoid.

"Well judging from how pink your cheeks turned, I really want to know."

"It's dumb," I stalled. "I just..."

"Yeees?" Edward asked. Taking the kitten from my lap, he picked it up and immediately the kitten climbed up his shirt and lay on his shoulder, promptly falling asleep.

"Chester and Lulu, they're like _your_ dogs, you know? I may feed them and walk them but they're still yours."

Edward shook his head. "That's not true. They may have been mine, but now they're ours. You love them. Hell, they might love you more than they do me."

I smiled. "Well, then I guess getting a kitten wasn't necessary. I thought it could be ours. Like something of ours we take care of, you know? Practice."

"Practice?" He looked confused for a second, then realization hit him. "Like a baby."

"I know a cat isn't like a baby but you know. It's what couples do, isn't it? First comes pet, then comes baby? I mean, I guess I'm being presumptuous. We haven't even really talked about the future and if you want a family. I'm not like ready to have one anytime soon but it's definitely something I want in the future, you know? I mean, if you're on the same page as me."

Edward laughed, his shaking shoulders rousing the kitten. "I want a family with you, Bella. I won't lie and say I'm not ready now, because I am. I'm forty, I'm not getting any younger. But you're still young, still in college. I won't rush you."

"Really?"

"Well, yeah. In the meantime I think a kitten is perfect practice. However, we need to come up with a name."

0-0

We sat on the couch a while longer, trying to come up with names but none of them seemed to fit the little girl.

Eventually, we put the name search on hold and I brought the cake out to Edward and sang for him.

"Are you almost ready yet?"

I turned my head around and narrowed my eyes at Edward. "I don't know. I can't find anything to wear."

"Baby, you've tried on six dresses so far."

I huffed at Edward, who was sitting on the bed, his back against the headboard and the unnamed kitten in his lap. "Yeah and I don't see you complaining at watching me get undressed."

Edward shrugged unabashedly. "I'm a guy."

"I just want to make a good first impression. I want your friends to like me and not look at me like Rosalie does."

"Don't worry, Bella. I know they'll love you."

"Are you sure she's going to be okay?" I asked Edward, taking the kitten from his lap. "I feel bad leaving her alone."

Holding the kitten in my arms, I placed her in her bed on our bedroom floor. I made sure she had food and water and a litter box, just in case she decided to try it out.

"We'll only be gone a few hours. She'll be fine. Look at her, she's sleeping again." Edward nodded to the kitten and I looked. Sure enough, she was curled up in a ball, fast asleep.

"Okay. But just a few hours."

When we got to the bar, Edward's friends Eric, Mike and Tyler were already there, along with Mike and Tyler's girlfriends, Jessica and Lauren.

Edward threw his arm around my shoulders and led me to the table they were sitting at in the corner.

After greeting everyone, Edward introduced me.

While the guys seemed cool with me despite ribbing Edward a bit, Jessica and Lauren didn't seem to warm up to me.

And it wasn't just me that noticed, but Edward as well.

"I'm going to get a refill, want one?" Lauren asked, looking at Tyler.

"I'll go with you." Jessica stood up and asked Mike if he wanted a drink.

"Baby, can you get me one too?" Edward asked, squeezing my thigh.

I nodded, turning to face him so he could see the look on my face and know that I was on to him.

"Sure, I'll get you another Stella." I stood up as well and followed the two girls to the bar.

As we waited for the drinks, I stood awkwardly by Jessica and Lauren as they chatted about their jobs.

"So, Bella. What is it that you do?" Lauren asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, I work at my campuses bookstore," I replied, hoping that the bartender would serve us our drinks soon so I could go back to the table and to Edward.

"Right, you're in college. How old did you say you were again?" There was a confrontational tone in her voice and I wanted to tell her that I didn't say how old I was. Instead, I politely replied, "twenty-one."

"Wow, young. I'm surprised you'd want to be with an old man like Edward." Jessica laughed.

"Edward's not that old," I defended. "Besides, I don't care about his age."

Jessica shrugged. "Whatever."

I groaned internally. Seriously, what was it with these women? Why couldn't they just accept me and move on?

The bartender came up to us and set our drinks on the counter. Picking Edward and mine up, I turned to Lauren and Jessica and with a saccharine smile on my face, I replied. "Look. You're not the first to have your doubts about my sincerity and judge me, but when it comes down to it, what Edward and I do is really none of your business. If you need to worry about something, worry about yourselves."

Glancing over at where Edward sat, I turned back to the girls again. "Or, you could just worry about those girls that took your seats at the table."

Both women's heads whipped around to where I was looking and saw that three girls had joined the table and were sitting on either side of the guys.

Not waiting for them to follow I walked back over to Edward and handed him his beer.

"Oh, you're back." Edward sounded relieved. When I moved to sit down next to him, he instead pulled me into his lap.

Jessica and Lauren showed up a few seconds later and stood in front of us at the table. "Here are your drinks," Jessica said, shoving her drink at Mike as Lauren did the same. "Who are your new friends?"

"Oh, uh, this is uh, Renata, Maria and uh, Kim." Mike stumbled over the words, clearly feeling guilty and caught.

"Well, two pissed off looking girlfriends, that's my cue to leave." Eric stood up and turned to Renata, Maria and Kim. "Ladies, care to accompany me elsewhere?"

They looked to each other and then shrugged and nodded.

Pleased, Eric turn to Edward and me. "Bella, it was great to meet you. Make sure your keep this old man in line, eh?" he said, shaking my hand and then slapping Edward on the chest.

"Bye Lauren, Jess. Try to not be too hard on my boys, okay?"

The women rolled their eyes at him, but sat back down in the seats the other three had left.

Shortly after, the night came to a close. Jessica and Lauren's moods were still sour, causing Mike and Tyler to call it an early night.

"Did you have a good time?" Edward asked, starting the car.

"Yeah." I yawned. "Mike and Tyler seem like good guys. Eric..."

"Is an idiot," Edward finished for me. "He's a good guy, but I think he forgets he's almost forty. The eternal bachelor."

"What was the deal with those girls he brought over?"

"When you guys went to get the drinks, Eric went to the bathroom. I guess he managed to pick up three girls on his way back." Edward shrugged.

"But three?"

"You may not have been able to tell, but Eric isn't very fond of Lauren and Jessica. In his eyes, they took away his partners in crime."

"And you weren't one of them?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I was in a relationship for a long time. He knows I'm not the kind to pick up girls at bars, anyway."

"Oh." I thought about what Edward said and then asked, "Is that the only reason he doesn't like them?"

"Well, they aren't really the nicest girls, are they?"

"That's one way of putting it," I muttered to myself.

"They give you a hard time?"

"You could say. Thanks for throwing me to the wolves, too." I sank down in my seat and crossed my arms over my chest.

Edward's head turned briefly to look at me before going back to the road. "I'm sorry. I just thought that you could maybe get to know them. Make some new friends."

"Thanks, but I really don't need you to find friends for me." I winced, realizing how harsh I sounded. "Sorry. I just mean that they were passive aggressively rude to me for no reason. I'm tired of getting that. It's whatever though, you know? Besides, I think I showed them up when their boyfriends were talking to those girls."

It wouldn't serve any purpose to be angry with Edward. He was just trying to help me out and I knew it was important that I get along with his friends and by extension, their girlfriends.

But it just wasn't gonna happen.

More importantly, I finally decided to use the credit card Edward gave me and bought a ridiculously skimpy (and expensive) slip from Agent Provocateur.

And I planned on making damn good use of it tonight.

* * *

><p>Hope you guys liked it!<p>

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See you next time!


	22. Chapter 22

Hey, everyone! Long time no see.

* * *

><p>Today was wedding day.<p>

Not my wedding, of course, but Tanya's.

Edward's ex.

I stood at the front door, waiting for Edward, holding the gift he had picked out from the registry immaculately wrapped, courtesy of Bloomingdales.

I _so_ did not want to go.

The night before, while Edward had been in bed, I was glued to the computer, Googling Tanya in an effort to dig up any info on her I could.

However, I could only find a long forgotten MySpace profile with a blurry picture, a private Facebook and a Linkedin profile.

It wasn't that I hadn't asked Edward about her, I had. He was sweet and so clueless when he told me just a few facts about her. When I asked for more details about the two of them, he just kissed me and told me that the past was just that, the past. I had nothing to worry about.

Which was all well and good. I knew I was being stupid. Hell, we were going to Tanya's wedding tomorrow. She had clearly moved on and so had Edward.

I just couldn't help but feel the envy creep up in me, thinking about how they spent ten years together.

Then my mind traveled elsewhere. They spent ten years together, surely they both thought that they would spend the rest of their lives together. In the end, they both just parted ways.

Just like that. After ten years.

I scowled. I wasn't going to let stupid insecurities get to me. Nothing was guaranteed. I just had to enjoy the present. And the present was pretty damn good.

"Why the face?" Edward asked, getting the cat hair off his suit with a lint roller.

"Nothing." I shook my head. "Just thinking."

"Well, you look gorgeous." Edward's eyes roamed appreciatively down my body.

I looked down at my outfit. A pale blue dress with a cardigan and heels. Nothing special. "Thanks. You're looking pretty hot yourself."

Edward grinned and walked over to the front door, holding it open for me.

"Okay, I put the dogs in the backyard and Lucy's fed and sleeping on our bed."

I smiled. It had only been a week since Edward's belated birthday celebration, but Lucy was adjusting well to her new home. She was even well on her way to being house trained.

"Great." I smiled. "Then lets get the show on the road."

Edward frowned at me. "You don't want to go."

"No, no." I shook my head. "Okay, you're right. I don't want to go."

In fact, I could think of a million other things I'd rather do. Like curl up on the couch and read, for example. Or cuddle with Lucy.

Edward opened his mouth to speak.

"But, I am curious about Tanya and well, you've already RSVP'd. Plus, the food at the reception sounded good."

Edward rolled his eyes at me and smiled. "We'll leave early. Promise."

0-0

The country club Tanya was getting married at was, without a doubt, gorgeous.

It was an outdoor wedding and the weather appeared to cooperate for once. There were blue skies with puffy white clouds and no breeze.

I hung by Edward's side as he ran into old friends and acquaintances of his from his days dating Tanya. None of which seemed too surprised to see Edward in attendance.

When it was announced for us to sit down, Edward led me to one of the back rows of seats.

The string quartet that had been playing in the background began playing the wedding march and everyone stood, waiting for Tanya to walk down the aisle.

The groom, Felix, stood at the altar, looking nervous and excited.

As soon as Tanya came into view, I was struck by how gorgeous she was. The few pictures I had seen before hadn't done her justice.

Her white blonde hair, in an elaborate up-do and the long, strapless white dress she wore made her look like a princess.

When she looked up and her gaze met Felix's, she broke out into a wide smile.

I glanced around at the rest of the guests and noticed Rosalie, seemingly alone.

I nudged Edward in the side, getting his attention. "Rosalie's here," I whispered.

He scanned the area until he found her. "Makes sense, her and Tanya are still good friends."

"Looks like she's alone," I pointed out. "Maybe we should go say hi afterward."

"Her and Emmett are still having issues. I guess he wouldn't come. They're both so thick headed and strong willed, it's a surprise they've made it this far. Let's see if we bump into her in the reception. I don't think she would create a scene today, but I don't want to risk it anyway."

I nodded. I didn't really relish the idea of going to say hi to Rosalie either.

We watched the vows being exchanged. When the minister asked if anyone objected to the union, I half expected Rosalie to jump up and scream that Edward and Tanya were meant to be together.

Thankfully, she didn't.

**0-0**

Once the ceremony ended, everyone stood and shuffled into the club where the reception was held.

After dinner, speeches and toasts had been made, all the party guests were mingling and dancing.

As it turned out, Rosalie had skipped out on the reception, which hadn't really surprised me. It seemed as if all the guests had a date. Since her and Emmett were fighting, I doubted she wanted to socialize and be asked where her husband was.

I had just finished stuffing my face with dessert when a man and woman around Edward's parents age came up to our table.

"Eleazar, Carmen. How are you?" Edward stood up and shook Eleazar's hand, then hugged Carmen. "It's good to see you."

"Good to see you, too," Carmen replied. "I know Tanya's glad to have you here as well. Have you been able to talk to her tonight?"

"No, not yet. We'll go over to her table soon." Edward gestured to me. "I'd like you to meet Bella, my girlfriend. Bella, let me introduce you to Tanya's parents, Eleazar and Carmen."

I stood up to greet them, unsure of how they would react to me. To my surprise, they gave me the same warm welcome they gave Edward.

"How about you join me for a scotch, Edward," Eleazar suggested. "You can catch me up on your life."

Edward looked over at me and I shrugged. "Go, have fun."

"Don't worry, Edward. I'll stay here with Bella and keep her company," Carmen assured.

"In that case, maybe I should worry!" Edward teased. "I'll return soon, ladies."

Carmen and I turned to watch the men leave. Then, the awkwardness set in.

"It's so lovely to meet you, Bella. There's no need to feel uncomfortable, although I understand why you would."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I shook my head. "I guess it is a little weird being here, but I'm having a good time."

"It's funny how things work out. But Tanya looks so happy with Felix and I can tell Edward's just as happy with you. Even though they've been broken up for quite some time now, Edward is still like a son to me."

I didn't know what to say. Of all possible outcomes, I didn't expect Carmen's kindness and welcoming demeanor.

We continued to chat and make small talk the entire time Edward and Eleazar were talking.

I was laughing at something Carmen had said when the men returned to our table.

"What's so funny?" Edward asked, sitting back down beside me.

"Nothing." I shook my head. "She just finished telling me a funny story."

"Well, I hope it wasn't one about me. God knows I've done enough things to result in teasing, though."

Carmen laughed. "Oh, it was about you!"

"Hey, looks like the party has moved over here."

I turned around to see who spoke, only to see Tanya standing behind me.

"Tanya, let me introduce Bella, Edward's date. Bella, my daughter, Tanya." Carmen smiled back and forth between us.

"Of course." Tanya sat down in Edwards chair. "Edward's Bella."

"That's me," I replied awkwardly. "Wonderful ceremony, by the way. And this reception...wow."

"Thanks." Tanya beamed. "I think it was perfect, wasn't it? It was exactly what I wanted. Felix too, although he didn't have too much of an opinion on decorations and whatnot."

"Tanya turned into somewhat of a bridezilla," Carmen mock whispered to me.

"Mom!" Tanya shook her head. "I never got that bad. Anyway, tell me about yourself, Bella."

Okay, this situation felt totally bizarre. What kind of alternate world was I currently in where I was hanging out at Edward's ex's wedding, with said Ex and her mother?

And they were _nice_.

As I finished telling them the basics about myself, Edward and Eleazar came back to the table, along with Felix.

Edward walked up behind me, drink in one hand, his free hand cupping the base of my neck.

I resisted a shiver when I felt his thumb sweep above my shoulder blade.

"You're not giving her the third degree, right?" Edward laughed.

"No, we just chatted." I turned around to look at him to assure him that it really was fine.

"Edward." Tanya stood up and hugged Edward. "Thank you for coming, it's good to see you."

"You too," Edward replied, hugged her back quickly before releasing her and taking a step back. "The ceremony was nice and this reception looks great. Awesome Filet Mignon."

Tanya smiled and turned to look at Felix. "Thanks, his choice. That and the cake."

Felix shrugged. "If it was up to Tanya, we'd probably have been stuck with tofu or some crap."

"Hush." Tanya gently slapped Felix in the stomach. "Oh! Felix, meet Bella. She came with Edward."

"Nice meeting you." Felix held his hand out for me to shake.

Taking it, I replied. "It's good to meet you too."

After talking for a few more minutes, Edward leaned down to whisper to me.

"How about we dance?" He held his hand out to me.

Smiling, I took it.

Following him out to the dance floor, I wrapped my arms around Edward's neck, his arms going around my waist.

"Okay, I must warn you though, I'm a terrible dancer. _Terrible_," I warned him.

"Nah," Edward disagreed. "It's all in the leading."

With that, Edward began to almost flawlessly move me across the dance floor.

Well, flawless on his behalf, I managed to still stumble a few times.

All in all, it wasn't a bad night, by any means. I thought that meeting Tanya would fuel some sort of jealousy or insecurity in me, but seeing firsthand how they interacted and how happy Tanya appeared with her new husband, I felt like a piece of a puzzle fell into place.

I wasn't going to concern myself with Edwards past like that again.

**0-0**

An hour or so later, Edward and I sat in the car, heading back home.

The rest of the evening passed fairly quickly with us dancing, drinking and eating more of the delicious desserts.

I felt more than a little buzzed and very... content.

"You have a good time, baby?" Edward asked.

"Yeah," I answered honestly. I was more than a little buzzed from the wine and champagne and feeling good. "Did you?"

"Of course. I got to spend the night with you."

"You are sooo cheesy, Mr. Cullen," I teased. "Ugh. I can't wait to get home and out of this dress and these shoes."

Edward glanced over at me and grinned salaciously. "I'm all for that."

I rolled my eyes. "Perv."

"Did I mention how sexy you look tonight?"

"Maybe once or twice," I replied slyly.

Truth be told, he had told me during the night. He'd also showed me in the way he looked at me and couldn't seem to keep his hands off of me.

"Good. It's true, you look stunning." Edward leaned over and placed his right hand on my thigh, just under the hem of my dress.

"Pull over," I told Edward.

Edward immediately pulled over onto the side of the road and put the car in park.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked.

Maybe the alcohol emboldened me or just made me plain horny, but I suddenly couldn't wait until we got home to touch and kiss Edward.

I shook my head. "Nothing. It's just..."

I unbuckled my seat belt and leaned over, cupping his cheek. "I love you."

"Love you too." Edward chuckled.

Leaning forward more, our lips met, kissing passionately.

While Edward was thoroughly distracted by the kiss, I moved the hand that had been cupping his cheek and ran it down his body, to his belt.

With deft fingers, I unbuckled the belt and undid his pants. Only when my hand slid in the hole of his boxers did Edward break away.

"What are you doing?" Edward asked through heavy breathes.

"If you have to ask, then I must be doing something wrong," I teased, kissing down his jaw and to his neck.

"No, something right. Something _very _right," Edward hissed when I squeezed his erection.

I smiled to myself and shifted in my seat, bending down while pulling Edward's erection out of his pants.

Wasting no time, I lowered my mouth on him, taking him as deep as I could.

"Shit. Fuck," Edward growled. His hands immediately going to my head, he brushed my hair, holding it in one hand, the other hand resting on the back of my head, moving with me.

I licked and sucked with fervor, swirling my tongue around the head with each pass. After a few minutes of keeping this up, Edward began to thrust his hips up in time with my movements.

"Fuck, I'm gonna come, baby."

I nodded my head, letting him know I heard him and had no intention of moving away.

With a final groan and thrust, Edward came, spilling into my mouth.

Swallowing quickly, I sat back up and smiled, my lips feeling swollen and numb.

Seeing Edward panting, head back and his deflating dick still out, I couldn't help but feel a surge of pride at how I could affect Edward.

"What was that about?" he asked, tucking himself back in and refastening his pants and belt.

I shrugged and shook my head. I didn't know what had come over me and I didn't bother fighting it, either.

"Let's get back on the road, then. I want to pick up where we just left off...and soon."

* * *

><p>Sorry for the delay. Sometimes real life just really sucks and you lose the writing grove. Hopefully I can update quicker now. I think this story is coming to a close, unless you guys have things you'd like to see in it. I'm pretty open to suggestions.<p>

So, Lucy is the name I decided on. A few of you suggested it and I just really like the name. However, there were TONS of cute names suggested and I loved reading about your pets.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know in a review. As always I reply to all signed in, PM enabled reviews with a little EPOV from the chapter. I think it's kinda cool to be able to get into Edwards head, even just a little bit.

I updated the blog with a couple pics to go along with the chapter. Link is in my profile.

I think that's all I wanted to say for now. See you guys next time!


	23. Chapter 23

Hi. See you down below :)

* * *

><p>When Edward came home late, well past 2 AM, only to drunkenly strip down to his boxers and climb into bed next to me, I knew something was bothering him.<p>

"Emmett and Rosalie are getting separated," Edward explained to me when I asked.

"What? Like a divorce?" I asked, shocked. I knew that things between Emmett and Rosalie were strained right now, but I didn't think it went that deep.

Edward shook his head and wrapped his arms around me, his legs entwined with mine, pulling me to him until my back pressed tightly against his chest.

"They're just...separating. Not legally, either. At least not now. She's taken Cait and is staying with her parents for a while. Emmett's really torn up about it."

"Oh." I didn't know what else to say. I felt sad for Emmett and Caitlin, even though she probably didn't really get what was going on. I even felt a tiny bit sad for Rosalie, too.

"That's not going to be us, you know. I know I probably freak you out a little bit when I talk about the future like that, but it's true."

I shifted my body to make eye contact with him. "You can't know that."

"True. But I think we're different. We discuss things. We have the same values and beliefs. Rosalie and Emmett have always been somewhat of an odd match. Maybe they'll make up, maybe they won't. It could really go either way."

"Yeah. I guess we'll see."

When you're happy, time seems to pass by more quickly. My life with Edward was moving along. School started back up in the fall and I felt the stress of trying to balance a heavier course load with my job at the campus bookstore and spending time with Edward.

When the holiday season rolled around, Edward and I were bombarded with invites to family and friend gatherings.

"So, we're really going to be able to hit up my dads_ and_ your parents for Thanksgiving?" I asked Edward, doubtfully. Edward had just walked into the kitchen after he returned from his run and I was elbow deep in dough and covered in flour. I was in charge of baking pies to take to my dad's and couldn't help but go a little bit overboard.

I hadn't spent a holiday away from either of my parents before, but I had told Edward that we celebrate early with my dad and spend the actual day at his parents. Edward insisted that we could make it to Forks and back to Seattle in time for his parents get together with no problem. I still couldn't help but be skeptical.

"Yep. I've gotten it all planned out. Then we'll be staying over at my parents so you and Mom can go shop."

"Don't remind me!" I groaned, kneading the dough a little more violent than called for. Somehow, I had agreed to do some Black Friday shopping with Esme and we would be leaving to hit the mall before sunrise.

"Hey, don't look at me." Edward laughed and kissed my cheek. "You volunteered to go."

"I know, but that was before I knew we would be going before sunrise. I thought that we would be able to sleep in, have a nice brunch, then go and do some leisurely shopping. Instead, I'm going to be running on empty and having to wait in line with a bunch of deal hungry fanatics."

Edward just laughed and shook his head. "You're cute. You'll survive."

When the pout didn't leave my face, Edward walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "How about you finish that pie, then we go jump into the shower. Then I can light a fire and order takeout from your favorite Thai place and we just have a nice, relaxed night in before tomorrows craziness?"

"Mmm." I leaned back into his embrace and shut my eyes. A relaxed night in sounded perfect. "Give me twenty minutes and I'll join you."

0-0

Thanksgiving morning, we were woken up bright and early by a loud crashing noise.

"What was that?" Edward asked, sitting up quickly in bed. I sat up slowly, not waking up quite as fast as him.

"I don't know...want me to check?"

Edward shook his head then leaned over to kiss my forehead. "No, I'll go look. If I'm not back in five minutes, call the cops," he joked.

I scowled at his attempted joke and flopped back against the pillows.

Just a couple minutes later, he returned, a sheepish look on his face. "I'm sorry, I guess Chester couldn't wait for breakfast."

Taking in my clueless expression, Edward added, "the pies."

"Shit!" I yelled, sitting up and throwing the covers off of me, startling a sleeping Lucy.

Edward moved out of my way, narrowly avoiding having me run into him.

I heard his footsteps behind me as I rushed into the kitchen.

When I reached the kitchen, the sight before me caused me to stop short.

Both dogs were in the kitchen, the fur around their mouths covered in deep purple fruit and crust crumbs. At least Chester looked ashamed, head down, his eyes refusing to make contact with mine. Lulu, on the other hand, sprawled out on the kitchen floor, her belly exposed and waiting to be rubbed.

"You guys are bad. Sooooo bad." Hands on hips, I fixed my most disapproving glare on them.

"I'm sorry, baby." Edward came up behind me and rubbed my back. "You know they don't normally do this."

It was true. I had left food on the counters countless times without a second though. Although the dogs were tall enough that they could still be on all fours and reach the kitchen counters, they never actually stole food. It was just my luck that the one time it happened would be when I didn't have enough time to bake another pie.

"I am so not going to pet you," I told Lulu, her tongue now lolling out to the side to reach some of the berry. "Now I don't have any dessert to bring to my dad's."

"Relax. I'll get them cleaned up and clean this mess up while you're getting ready. Then, hopefully we can find some place open on the way to Forks and get a pie there."

"Okay," I relented. It wasn't as if there was another option.

0-0

Almost an hour and a half later, Edward and I were on the road to Forks. We had packed up the dogs and left Lucy with enough food and water. The chilly weather and the grey, angry looking sky only added to the threat of snow that the weather person on the radio had announced a few minutes earlier.

"Nah, I think we should be good. Even if it rained, this car can handle it," he reassured me when I mentioned it, patting the dashboard affectionately.

I rolled my eyes, but didn't try to contradict him. I didn't feel like talking. My stomach felt like it was in knots, like something bad was going to happen, but I just attributed it to a rare case of car sickness and starting the morning off on the wrong foot. I ignored the feeling and stared out the window, watching the familiar, passing scenery.

I hadn't realized I dozed off until I felt Edward shake me gently and announce that we were just about to enter Forks, and to let him know where he should go for us to look for a pie.

Luckily for us, the Forks diner was _always_ open. They also happened to have a pie rack full of freshly baked pies.

After I picked up a cherry and a pumpkin pie, we headed over to Dad's house.

Finally, we reached Forks and my nausea subsided. When Edward, the dogs and I made our way up to the front stairs, Leah already had the front door wide open, with Seth standing next to her.

"Ugh, it's so good to see you guys!" I said, offering the pies to Seth, who was holding his hands out to take them. I gave him a one armed hug, then hugged Leah. Letting her go, I turned around to usher Edward forward.

"Edward, this is Lean and Seth, Sue's kids. Guys, this is Edward, Chester and Lulu." I pointed to each of the dogs.

While Edward set the dogs up in the backyard I headed into the house, taking off my heavy jacket and hanging it on the coat rack.

I followed Seth to the kitchen, where I found Sue busy at work, preparing a vegetable dish.

"Wow, Sue, it smells great in here." I smiled. "You've really outdone yourself!"

Sue smiled and waved me off. "I just hope you and Edward brought your appetites. I went a little overboard this year. Plenty of leftovers."

"Well, I for one am starved," Edward said, walking into the house. "It's great to see you again, Sue."

"You too, Edward. And good. I think I've got the biggest turkey I've ever seen cooking in the oven right now."

"Charlie's watching the game if you guys want to go join him," Leah said to the two men. The way she said it though was more of an order and not a suggestion. Clearly, she wanted girl time.

Edward shrugged, recognizing Leah's intentions and headed to the living room, Seth following behind.

Leah peaked around the corner, seeing if they were out of earshot yet. "Oh, my god. Bella. He is _hot!_"

"Leah!" I laughed. "Are you perving on my boyfriend?"

She shook her head. "Sorry, but I mean….I know I've seen pics of him but I definitely didn't expect that. He totally has that distinguished older guy thing going on. Like Clooney."

"No way! Clooney is at least 50. Edward is nowhere near that old."

"Damn, where can I find me one of those? What website did you say you two met on?" She continued after ignoring my comment.

I looked to Sue for guidance. "Hey, I'm just over here, minding my own business, chopping some veggies."

"Right, I forgot. You were just as bad as Leah when you met him. He seems to have that effect on all women, actually," I realized with a frown. Edward really was heart stoppingly gorgeous. And funny. And smart.

"Hush, Bella. Any dummy can see he only has eyes for you," Sue assured me. "Now, are you two going to keep yakking, or are you going to help?"

0-0

"Oh, god. I'm stuffed. I don't think I could eat anything else for a year," I groaned and leaned back in my seat.

"Don't forget the pie," Edward teased.

The scraping of silverware on plates signaled that everyone else was finished with their meal as well. Overall, it had been delicious; Sue definitely knew how to cook.

"Right. Can't forget the pie." I had to have pie after all that work I went to in order to get them. I yawned, the big meal having already made me sleepy. "I'm going to try to roll myself out of here to give the dogs their turkey."

I heaved myself out of my chair, regretting the amount of food I stuffed myself with and walked through the kitchen to the backyard, picking up the plate of turkey scraps off the counter.

The air outside was even more chilly than before and a light dusting of snow coated the ground. Instead of feeding the dogs outside, I called them to come inside and out of the snow.

"It's snowing!" I announced cheerily after entering the dining room.

"What?" Charlie stood and moved the curtain aside, looking out. "Damn, it is."

"The roads are going to be rough," Sue worried. "Hopefully it will clear up soon."

I sat back down at the table and leaned toward Edward. "We're not going to make it in time for your parents."

"We still have a couple hours until we have to leave. My family doesn't eat until late, anyway."

Edward and I cleared the dishes then started a pot of coffee while everyone else settled in the living room to watch TV.

"Who wants pie?" I yelled from the kitchen. Hearing a chorus of "me," I got out plates, ice cream and the pies and began plating up thin slices of each kind onto all the plates.

"I thought you were full?" Edward commented as I cut two pieces of pie and put them on my plate, along with a generous scoop of ice cream.

"Hey, we went to a lot of work to get this pie. I'm going to eat it!" I laughed.

0-0

True to his word, a couple hours later Edward, the dogs and I were back in the car and heading back to Seattle. While the snow had stopped almost as soon as it started, it was still drizzling, making the roads slick.

We only made it to Sequim when the traffic slowed down to a stop.

"Uh, oh. Why did we stop?" I rolled down the window and craned my neck out to see if I could see anything. "Looks like there's a cop down there."

"Must be an accident."

We sat in the car a few minutes, waiting for the traffic to begin moving, until a knock on Edward's window startled me.

"Happy Thanksgiving, folks," the officer greeted after Edward rolled his window down. "You'll have to turn around, the roads closed."

"We're trying to get to Seattle. What happened?" I asked.

"Single car accident. Looks like they slid on some black ice and hit a tree, knocking it down and causing a bit of a mud slide. Clean up crews are working on getting out here, but it being a holiday and all, it's a little difficult."

"Okay, thanks for the help, officer." Edward and the cop talked for a few more minutes, until the cop moved along to the next car that just arrived behind us.

"Well, looks like we won't be going to my parents after all." Edward sighed. He turned the car around and pulled into a shoulder. "I need to call them and let them know."

His parents, although disappointed we wouldn't be able to make it, told us to come over the next day. Edward promised that we would be over as soon as possible, so I could still hopefully make it in time to go shopping with Esme. That was one thing I was still not looking forward to.

"Emmett is already there, I guess he decided to spend the whole day there. That's good, at least part of the family will be there."

"How's he doing, anyway?" From the few times I had seen Emmett since the separation bombshell, he had been mopey and clearly depressed. He was trying to make it work with Rosalie by going to couples therapy and still managed to see Caitlin a few times a week.

"He's getting by. Mom told me that he visited Caitlin at Rosalie's parents yesterday. He's pretty torn up about not spending Thanksgiving with her. I think he thought that whatever Rosalie and he were going through would be resolved by now.

I knew firsthand how much it sucked to have to go between parents, never getting to spend your birthday with both your mom and dad. Even though I wasn't Rosalie's biggest fan, I hoped they could get their shit together for the sake of their kid.

"Hopefully your parents can cheer him up. If not, you and Emmett will hopefully have some guy time. Do whatever you guys do."

"Beer and strippers?" Edward laughed.

I made a face at him. "Well, maybe not the strippers."

0-0

About an hour and a half later, Edward pulled into Fork's sole gas station, where I noticed a familiar Volkswagen in one of the parking spaces.

Shit.

"I'm gonna go inside to pay and pick up some beer, okay?" Edward said, unbuckling his seat belt and opening the car door.

"Um, yeah. I'll just wait here." I silently prayed that Jacob and Edward wouldn't see each other and that if they did, they wouldn't speak to each other.

I took my phone out of my bag and began playing with it, but hearing Chester's low growl brought me out of my concentration.

"What is it, Chester?" I asked, looking out the window to see what he was growling at.

I shouldn't have even bothered asking.

Walking toward me, a smirk on his face, was Jacob.

* * *

><p>I hope you liked it. Sorry for the wait. Also, sorry I'm not sorry for the mini cliffhanger. However, I've kinda gotten in the writing groove and well, I'm ready to wrap this story up! I'm predicting 1-2 more chapters (probs 2) plus an epilogue. I'll be sad to see these guys go, but hey, I may have something else up my sleeve. As usual, feel free to review and in return, I'll reply to it with a glimpse into our Edward's mind.<p> 


	24. Chapter 24

Instinctively, I locked the car door.

Chester was still growling in the backseat; I turned around and stroked his fur in an effort to calm him. Clearly, he remembered Jacob from the first encounter and Jacob hadn't left a favorable impression on him.

Even though I expected Jacob's knock on my window, it still startled me.

"Geez, Bella. Relax," Jacob joked through the closed window. "Call off the attack dogs while you're at it."

"What do you want, Jake? I'm with Edward. He's gonna come out of the store any minute now."

"Yeah, don't think I didn't notice this fancy car. Must have cost him a fortune." Jacob eyed with car with obvious envy. "At least you picked an old man with money."

Instead of being hurt or upset by his jab, I just felt anger.

""That doesn't work on me any more. You can't intimidate me or make me feel like shit. I won't let you."

"Oh, please. Don't try to give me that 'strong, independent woman' bullshit." He let out a dark laugh.

I let out an internal sigh of relief when I saw Edward exiting the store and walking toward me, the beer in hand and a scowl on his face.

"Jacob. I think you need to get back in your car and leave." I watched as Edward shoved past Jacob and around to the driver side of the car to put the case of beer in the back seat.

"You guys are so uptight, aren't you? I just happened to see Bella on my way to the car and thought I'd say hello to her. It is Thanksgiving, after all. We used to spend every Thanksgiving together, didn't we, Bella?" Jacob leaned against my car door. "My dad and I have to join the Call's for dinner. It's too bad the tradition with his best friend was ruined."

"Watch it," Edward warned. He came back around to stand in front of Jacob. Great. Just another thing I wanted to avoid. I said a silent prayer that this verbal argument didn't turn physical.

"You are so full of shit, Jacob. Don't you dare even try to blame that on me. It's all you. You disgust me. Billy and Dad are still friends. It's you that ruined the family get togethers. Not me. You're the asshole here. Not me."

Judging by the look on Jacob's face, he wasn't expecting me to stand up for myself. He was wrong. I wasn't the same dumb, naive girl as before.

"Edward, can we just go?" Edward was still staring down Jacob, reading to defend me if it got out of hand.

"Yeah. Let's go." He glared one last time at Jacob, then walked around the car to get in the drivers side.

As he turned on the car, Jacob knocked on the window. Irritated that he just wouldn't give up, I rolled the window down a bit. "What do you want now?"

"Happy Thanksgiving, Bella. Say 'hi' to the family for me." The sincerity in his face and voice surprised me. Wordlessly, I rolled the window back up as Edward pulled out of the gas station.

"You didn't even get gas," I realized.

"I know. I saw him in the store and rushed out after I paid. It can wait until tomorrow." I could tell Edward was still keyed up by how tense his shoulders and neck looked.

I reached over and cupped his neck, squeezing it. "It's okay. You don't have to be so mad."

"I just wanted to hit that guy. Who does he think he is, trying to lay all that guilt on you? What the fuck is his problem?"

"A serious case of asshole-itis?" I joked, trying to ease the tension. "Don't worry about him, babe. He's got issues."

"He pisses me off. But." Edward turned to me, flashing a smile at me, then looking back to the road. "It was so sexy watching you stand up for yourself like that."

I laughed. "You are such a guy. It's too bad we're going back to my dad's house where the walls are paper thin."

A devilish grin appeared on Edward's face. "Well, we could always pull over somewhere for a quickie. I'm down."

I looked down at the swell in Edward's pants. "Or up. Sorry, Lothario, but remember, my dad's Police Chief? The last thing I need is one of my dad's friends catching us with our pants down. Think gross thoughts and keep your eyes on the road."

0-0

Once we were back at the house, I knocked on the door a couple times before opening it.

"Bells," Dad greeted, walking to the door. "I thought you guys would be back. One of the guys called and told me about the accident. Sue's already fixing up the bedroom for you."

"Thanks, Charlie." Edward came up behind me and handed Dad the case of beer. "A little thank you for the meal and letting us stay. Hopefully we'll be able to get back to Seattle to my parents before morning."

"Vitamin R." Dad eyed the beer appreciatively. Edward did good. "It's no trouble. Feel free to make yourself at home."

0-0

"Edward? Are you awake?" We were crammed together in my old bedroom, on my twin size bed.

The clock on my nightstand said it was only 10:30. The rest of the day was spent lazing around, watching TV and picking at leftovers.

"Mmmph," Edward grunted, struggling to turn over in the bed. He had me smooshed between his body and the wall, while he took up most of the space.

"I'm horny." I whispered.

Edward reacted to my statement by slipping his hand under my shirt and up to play with my boobs, cupping and squeezing the nipples.

"I thought you said to keep my hands to myself. Paper thin walls." His voice was whisper quiet and still heavy with sleep.

"We can still do stuff. We just have to be very, very quiet." My back arched into his touch and I bit back a whimper. "Please, touch me."

The hand that had been caressing me trailed down my stomach and into the waistband of the shorts I was wearing, then between my legs.

I spread my legs, throwing one of them over Edward's body to make more room for his hand.

"Oh, right there," I breathed out, when Edward's fingers touched me in a way that made my toes curl.

I needed him to feel as good as he was making me feel.

The room pitch black, the moon hiding behind thick clouds. I blindly felt my way along Edward's body, tugging on his sweats until he got the hint and lifted his hips up enough for me to pull them down around his thighs.

Sticky drops of precum pearled around the head of his cock. I rubbed my thumb over it and used it to help ease the up and down movement of my hand.

We worked together silently to bring each other pleasure, hands and bodies moving lazily, the only sound in the room was our labored breathing.

"Edward," I whimpered, feeling the beginning of my orgasm creep up slowly on me. "More."

Edward's fingers sped up and he added another finger inside of me, his palm pressed against my clit.

I came hard, arching off the bed, momentarily stopping my hand. Edward didn't stop though, continuing to thrust upward. I could tell he was close too and grabbed a tissue from my nightstand just in time. He turned his head and buried it in my hair, thrusting so hard I thought the squeaking of the bed might wake up the entire house.

"I think I love you," Edward whispered after we caught our breath.

"I think I love you too." I played along. I grabbed another tissues to wipe my hand off with, then tossed them in the trash. "Or at least your fingers."

A floorboard creaking in the hallway quieted us immediately. Edward's pants were still around his thighs and my shirt around my shoulders. The door wasn't locked and I said a silent prayer that we didn't wake anyone up and if we did, they wouldn't be dumb enough to check on us.

We held our breath until we heard the footsteps going past my bedroom door and toward the bathroom.

We quickly righted ourselves and snuggled together in the bed.

0-0

It felt like I hadn't even been asleep for 10 minutes when a knock on my bedroom door woke me up. At first I felt disoriented until I realized Edward and I were in Forks, in my twin bed.

It was also only 4:30 AM. The knock on the door would most likely be from my dad who had to be at work by 5.

No sooner had I shut my eyes again when Edward's phone alarm began beeping.

Edward groaned and grabbed for his phone, silencing the alarm. "Coffee."

"Dad probably has some ready downstairs. Get up. I gotta pee." I nudged at Edward, who clearly wasn't entirely awake yet, because he rolled himself off the bed, landing on the floor with a thud.

After each taking turns with a quick shower, we headed downstairs where my dad had just fed the dogs and was heading out to work.

"I checked with the guys, the road's reopened." Dad hugged me. "Have a safe drive."

"We will. Thanks for letting us stay here," I told him, returning his hug.

We had already said goodbye to the rest of the house the night before, because we knew they would all still be sleeping soundly.

Quietly as possible, we followed Dad out of the house and loaded the dogs into the car.

Since we didn't have any coffee at my dad's, we made a quick stop by Mocha Motion, where we picked up coffee and muffins.

A few hours and a stop about halfway to Seattle to let the dogs stretch, we arrived at Edward's parents house.

It was just after 8:30 when we got there and the smell of breakfast being cooked had my mouth salivating. Even though I had coffee and a muffin, I was eager to dig in to a big breakfast.

We entered the house, following behind the dogs who made a beeline to the kitchen.

"Hey, you're here!" Carlisle greeted us. He was in the kitchen, cooking.

"What are you doing in the kitchen?" Edward joked, giving his dad a hug. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"Watch it! I thought I'd let your mom sleep in a bit, she needed her rest for her shopping trip today. She should be down soon."

Sure enough, just as Carlisle finished speaking Esme came downstairs. "Bella, Edward! I thought I heard those dogs barking. I'm so glad you were able to make it."

Esme came up and hugged us both, then led us to sit down at the table where Carlisle was putting out all the food.

"Where's Em?" Edward asked.

"He's still upstairs. Could you let him know breakfast is ready?" Esme replied, sitting down.

Edward walked over to the base of the stairs and yelled for his brother.

"Ugh." Esme cringed. "They've been doing that since they were kids. I swear it's just to annoy the hell out of me."

Emmett came downstairs, looking better than I expected him to. He looked….cheery.

"Hey, Bella. Happy Thanksgiving." He walked past Edward, slapping him on his back, then hugged me.

"You too, Emmett."

Emmett released me from his hug and rubbed his hands together. "Let's eat!"

0-0

Ten million hours later, or so it seemed, Edward's car was packed with shopping bags and early Christmas presents.

I finally understood the look of sympathy the men gave me when we left the house earlier in the day.

Esme was a shopping machine. Or maybe I should say maniac.

In the six hours we spent in the mall, Esme _allowed_ me a bathroom break and a ten minute rest. My feet ached and I was starving, but Esme was still raring to go.

Not only that, but she was a beast. She had no problem pushing people out of the way or running through the store to load up her cart.

"If you shove any more stuff in the car I won't be able to see out the back of it," I told her. "As it is, I can barely see over all this stuff."

Esme frowned. "I suppose you're right. I just hope I got everything I needed."

I looked at the pile of bags, only a few of them were mine. "Looks like you did to me."

"I suppose I can always come back over the weekend." She sighed. "How about we go get lunch before we head home?"

I nodded gratefully. "Yes, please."

After stopping by for sandwiches at a nearby deli, we arrived home to find the guys vegged out on the couch, watching college football.

"Edward, do you mind helping us with the bags?" I asked, leaning down behind him and hugging him around his neck.

"Yeah, we're losing anyway."

Edward followed me outside and stopped short when he saw his mom trying to unload the car. "Geez, Mom. Do you think you bought enough stuff?"

Esme turned around, her hands on her hips. "Now, Edward. Not all this is just for me. Some of it is actually for you too. So no peeking!"

"Did Bella even get anything?" he joked.

"Actually, she did. The Victoria's Secret bag is hers," Esme answered, a little smirk on her lips.

"Oh, really?" Edward suddenly looked very interested in finding the bag amongst all the others.

"Hey! Let's just focus on getting all the bags out first, okay?"

Edward nodded, then said in a voice only low enough for me to hear, "but later, I'll need you to model for me everything you bought."

* * *

><p>Next chapter is the last real chapter! Hopefully I can get it written and posted just as fast as this one was.<p> 


	25. Chapter 25

My phone vibrating on my nightstand woke me up out of a deep sleep.

"Thank god," Edward mumbled beside me. "It's gone off about ten times now."

"It's Alice," I groaned, checking my missed calls. "She left a voicemail."

I dialed my voicemail to listen to the message. I quickly pulled the phone away from my ear when I heard her unintelligible squeals, followed by a 'call me ASAP!'

"I guess I better see what she wants."

The phone didn't ring twice before she answered.

"Jasper proposed! I'm getting married! You have to come over and help me plan!"

My sleep addled brain couldn't handle her shouting. "Alice...what?"

Alice let out an indignant huff. "I _said _Jasper proposed last night!"

"Alice, that's great! Congratulations!"

I felt a poke in my side and turned around to face Edward. 'Jasper proposed,' I mouthed.

"So, are you busy right now? We have to go buy bridal magazines. I'm thinking a spring wedding," Alice chattered on.

My mind was still foggy, trying to make sense of everything. Last time I talked to Alice, her issues with Jasper weren't as bad, but they still hadn't really talked about it.

"Alice, I'm in bed still. It's only 8 on a Saturday morning," I reminded her.

"Oops, sorry. I guess I was a little excited. But could you get up now anyway? I'll buy you breakfast. Or brunch. Whatever."

"I'll text you as soon as I'm ready," I conceded.

0-0

An hour and a half later, I was waiting outside of Barnes and Noble for Alice.

"Bella!" I turned around to see Alice waving at me, a giant diamond sparkling on her finger.

I smiled, hugging her when she greeted me. "Let me see the ring."

Alice stuck out her hand, showing me the ring.

"Wow." The ring was….big. Scratch that, the diamond was huge. Jasper must have spent a fortune on it.

"I know, right? Isn't it gorgeous? Jasper totally listened to all the hints I've ever dropped."

"Alice...I don't want to be a downer or anything, but not that long ago, you thought you guys were fizzling out. Now you're engaged."

I didn't want to make her feel bad, I just wanted to make sure that she was making the right choice and not going into the engagement blindly.

"Jasper explained it to me. He said he was nervous about settling down. He knew he loved me, but getting married is a huge commitment. I guess he had a little case of cold feet. But he realized the alternative was worse and he was just being silly. Then he was nervous about proposing. He felt really bad about making me worry like that."

"Well, if you're sure. I just want you to be happy."

Alice nodded. "I get it. That's how I felt about you and Edward. I know I went about it completely the wrong way."

I shrugged. "Hey, water under the bridge. Now let's get those magazines so we can go eat. I'm starved."

0-0

I loved Christmas.

I hated Christmas shopping.

Especially since I procrastinated until December 22nd.

The mall was jam packed with other crazed, last minute shoppers trying to score deals.

I glanced down at the list in my hand. None of the names were crossed off yet. I sighed; I might as well start at the top and work my way down.

I was browsing the aisles of a toy store when I heard my name being called.

I turned around, seeing an unsure looking Rosalie standing behind me.

"Oh. Hi, Rosalie," I greeted her uneasily. I hadn't seen Rosalie for months, ever since the dinner at Edward's parents.

"Bella, I thought that was you." She gave me a weak smile, then nodded at the barbie I was holding. "Christmas shopping?"

"Yeah. I'm actually looking for Caitlin's gift." I waved the box in my hand.

Rosalie gave me a more genuine smile. "Cait loves Barbie. That one's great, actually. She doesn't have it."

"Great. I guess this is it, then. Thanks." I clutched the box to my chest and looked past Rosalie to the checkouts. "I guess I'll just—"

"Look, I know I'm a bitch." Rosalie interrupted me. "I really messed up. Not just with you, but with a lot of stuff. I'm hard to deal with. I'm not very nice. It's nearly cost me my marriage."

"Rosalie…"

"Look." She held her hand up to stop me. "I don't know what's going to happen. But can we just….be cool? I'm going to be spending Christmas with the Cullens, for Caitlin's sake. I figure you will be there too. We don't have to be best buddies, but I'd like to call a truce."

"A truce? I'm not the one with a problem. It's you. You decided all this stuff about me before you even got a chance to know me. Almost a year later and none of that is true. I mean, I'm still working a crappy minimum wage job, even though Edward told me I didn't have to if I didn't want to." I felt myself get worked up again. I definitely didn't want to start an argument in a toy store, of all places.

"Okay, okay. I know, it was a bad choice of words," Rosalie conceded. "I'll admit I may have been wrong about you. Can we just put it behind us and….move on?"

I thought for a minute. Part of me wanted to immediately say no, but then I thought about Emmett and Caitlin. Emmett was clearly miserable without her and Caitlin deserved both parents together, even if her mom was a bitch.

"Fine. But you get one chance. Don't expect me to put up with any crap from you and remain quiet. I don't deserve it and neither do the Cullen's."

"Sounds good to me. I just want my life back."

0-0

Instead of trying to juggle both families on one day, we spent Christmas Eve day with my Dad and Sue. I called my mom and talked to her for a while, then to Phil. After a lengthy phone call, I ended up promising that both of us would be making a trip to Florida in January.

Edward and I spent Christmas Eve alone at our house, where we exchanged gifts. He gave me an iPad and a pair of white gold, diamond studded earrings. The earrings were gorgeous and I could tell they were pricey. The watch I got Edward seemed silly compared to his gifts, but he assured me he loved it.

Even the pets were spoiled for the holiday. Chester and Lulu each got gift baskets with new toys and treats in them. Edward, who had really taken to spoiling Lucy bought her new toys, treats and a _pink_ rhinestone collar with her name embroidered in it.

On Christmas morning, we woke up early in order to get to Edward's parents in time for breakfast.

Emmett, Caitlin and Rosalie had spent the night at the house. I hadn't told Edward about my run-in with Rosalie yet. I didn't really have a reason as to why not, but since Emmett didn't mention anything the last time I saw him, I figured Rosalie hadn't mentioned it to him either.

I figured Rosalie's reasoning was that she didn't want to get Emmett's hopes up in case she somehow slipped up. I didn't blame her, I was half expecting her to make a snide comment all throughout the day.

But I was wrong.

The day went great.

Breakfast was a delicious feast. Esme and Rosalie cooked up every conceivable breakfast food.

We exchanged gifts after breakfast, then just spent the whole day hanging out. Caitlin was on cloud nine playing with all her new toys and the guys were busy playing a new video game in the TV room.

I volunteered to help in the kitchen, along with Rosalie and Esme. At first, it was awkward. Conversation between Rosalie and I was stunted and Esme seemed to pick up on the tension, but we soon fell into an easy routine working together in the kitchen.

I was pretty proud of us for how well the dinner turned out. Everything was perfect, right down to the pies that I made.

Later in the evening, after second helpings of pie, Edward and I said our goodbyes and headed back home. I hugged everyone, even Rosalie.

"So, what was that about?" Edward asked a few minutes into the drive home.

"What was what about?"

"You and Rosalie getting along all day. You and Rosalie _hugging_."

"Oh. That." I shrugged. "I guess we just decided to put it all behind us. What is it that kids these days say? YOLO?"

Edward shook his head. "Please, never say that word again. Whatever brought on today, thank you. That was the happiest I've seen Emmett in months."

I shrugged again. "It was nothing."

0-0

As the end of the year approached, I found myself reflecting on how much my life had changed in such a short period of time.

I went from living alone, hanging out with Alice and burying myself in school and work, to meeting Edward. I never would have considered dating him, but I was so glad I took a risk and went with my heart. Then I got in a somewhat serious car accident and moved in with him. Then I never left. I have 2 giant dogs and a cat.

Life was good.

Life got a little better when Edward surprised me with tickets to the SkyCity Soiree at the Space Needle. It seemed like a cheesy idea, but for as long as I could remember, I wanted to go and see the fireworks.

"This is amazing!" I said in awe, looking out over Seattle from the observation deck. The night had so far been magical. Perfect, even. Dinner and dancing and lots of champagne.

"Yeah, baby. It is pretty amazing. Are you sure you want to keep drinking that champagne?" Edward asked.

I twirled around to look at him. Edward had been acting weird all night. Nervous, even. When I asked him why, he brushed it off, saying that the height bugged him.

"Yep! Maybe you need some more champagne?" I took a sip from mine. I was on my third, maybe fourth glass. But they were small. "It might help you loosen up."

"I'm good. I have to drive us home, remember?"

"Ohhh yeah." I giggled. "Look! The countdown is about to start!"

Edward and I counted down with the rest of the party-goers, as soon as the clock struck midnight, I grabbed Edward and kissed him, just as the fireworks started going off.

"Best New Years ever!" I yelled.

After the fireworks ended and another champagne toast, Edward and I headed down to the ground floor.

"There, are you okay now that you're on the ground?" I asked.

"Yeah," Edward replied. "How drunk are you?"

"Ummm, Like a 7?" I thought for a moment, coming to a stop in the middle of the busy crowd. "No, maybe a 6. Out of 10."

"Okay, well. I really hope you remember this in the morning." Edward dropped down to one knee, surrounded by people. At first, I thought he was tying his shoe.

Until I saw him pull a box out of his jacket pocket.

"I know this is really cheesy and cliche, but I also know you like that," he prefaced. "Bella Swan, I promise to love you every moment of the rest of our lives. Will you do me the extraordinary honor of becoming my wife?"

* * *

><p>There's still an epilogue to follow.<p>

If you aren't connected with me on twitter or facebook or don't have me on author alert, you might have missed that I've updated chapter 1 of My Perfect Match in EPOV. Go check it out and review! I think that's all for now. See you next time!


	26. Epilogue

Short but hopefully sweet. See you at the bottom!

* * *

><p>"Congratulations, honey. I'm so proud of you!" My Mom hugged me for the millionth time, then pulled away to blot at the tears on her cheeks with a tissue.<p>

"Thanks, Mom." I felt a little emotional myself and blinked by tears of my own. "Damn pregnancy hormones."

My mom laughed, then was pulled away by Phil. "Don't hog her!"

Dad and Sue came up to congratulate me next.

"Well, Bells. Didn't think we'd ever come to see this day," Dad joked.

I rolled my eyes, but I was thinking the same thing. It took me a semester longer to get my Bachelors than I thought, then three years to complete my Masters.

A rough pregnancy delayed me finishing my Bachelors on time, but it was all worth it.

Lena was the light of my life, and Edward's.

Speaking of which…

"Let's go see mommy!" I heard Edward's voice and Lena's giggle before I saw them.

Before I could bend down, Lena thrust her body into my legs. "Mommy you did so good. You didn't fall."

I glared daggers at Edward. Okay, I may have stumbled a bit when I graduated before, but there was no reason to tell our daughter.

"No, baby. Mommy didn't fall," I agreed.

Lena had been a surprise. I first found out I was pregnant when Edward and I were in Florida, visiting Mom and Phil.

I panicked at first. Edward had just proposed. There was no way we would be able to throw together a wedding before the baby was born. I considered going to City Hall for a civil service, simply because I thought my Dad, no matter how much he liked Edward, would kill him if he found out Edward knocked me up before we were married.

But Edward convinced me otherwise and we were married six months after Lena was born.

Of course, Alice freaked out when she found out I was pregnant as well, but for two reasons. First, because she couldn't wait to be an aunt and second because I would be about 8 months pregnant for her wedding and the maid of honor dress she ordered wouldn't fit.

"Alright, move it, folks. It's my turn with the graduate," Emmett pushed through the crowd of people, followed by Caitlin and Rosalie, who was holding their newest edition, Emmett Jr.

Yes, the thought it would be a good idea to name their child after Emmett.

He wasn't their biological son, though. After discussing their options, they decided on adoption.

From what they knew, Emmett Jr.'s mom had been a teenager who knew that adoption was her only choice.

At a year old, he was the happiest baby I'd ever met. Chubby and always smiling.

I watched as Edward made faces at the baby in Rosalie's arms.

Edward really, really wanted a boy.

We already knew that Lena was getting a sister.

I told Edward that we could try one more time for a boy, but really, I might have been willing to try two more times.

Not that I ever doubted it, but Edward was an amazing father.

He was completely hands on and never shied away from dirty diapers or middle of the night bottle feedings.

I still asked myself how I got so lucky.

How I could go from a guy like Jacob, to a man like Edward.

Jacob ended up basically being a loser. Last I had heard, he was giving his poor dad a hard time, having gotten arrested twice. Once for a DUI and the other for driving on a suspended license.

I'd only seen him once since that one Thanksgiving a few years ago. It had been with Alice, who at the time had been about ready to pop with her first child, Liam. The mental image of tiny, pregnant Alice cussing out Jacob would be something I never forgot.

"So, how does it feel about being one of the most educated people in the family?" Emmett joked.

I couldn't help it. I blushed. "Be quiet. It's not like I even have a job lined up after this."

It was true. As it was, I had my own little tutoring business.

I liked what I did. I loved that I was able to make my own schedule and stay home with Lena.

Getting my Masters had been solely for me. It had been my intention to continue on to Grad school since my senior year in high school.

I figured that a Masters in education would help me with my tutoring business and if I ever wanted to work full time as a teacher, I was halfway there.

"Hey, no teasing my wife," Edward joked. "You're setting a bad example for Junior."

"Can we go eat yet?" I interrupted. Patting my belly, I added, "we're hungry."

Edward scooped up Lena in his arm, then slung his free arm over my shoulders. "Sure, baby. Let's go."

* * *

><p>There we go! Thank you guys sooo much for reading My Perfect Match, whether you've been here from the beginning (which many of you have been!) or if you're new. When I started writing this little story I didn't know so many people would like it! Your continued support over the nineteen months it took me to write this definitely kept me going.<p>

There weren't review replies for the last chapter and there won't be for the epilogue either. Some things I just want to keep and wait for Edward's POV of the fic. If you didn't read the last a/n, I've already posted chapter 1. Chapter 2 is actually already written too and has been for over a year.

One last thing! I've posted the first chapter of a new fic on a different profile. Why? Cause I felt like it. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but you can find it under the name sleep . Lolita all one word with the period between. For some reason ffn doesn't like the name. or /~sleeplolita


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